The Reaper: No Mercy by Sean Liebling Page A

their obvious leader, who nodded again.
    "We have a shortwave receiver and have heard of Newaygo. In fact, I believe we've heard of you also, Reaper. The radio doesn't always work well, and the conditions have to be right, but we've gotten quite a bit of information about what's happening around us. So, you're here to talk. What about? My name is Tom."
    "Tom, I would like to know your plans regarding these marauders and the other survivor groups in the city."
    "Plans? We have few plans, other than wait until spring, and then head out to either one of the larger survivor centers, or to a region that is more secluded. The zombies and these ‘marauders’ as you call them, are simply a nuisance right now. We are well protected in here. We are also full with no room to accept more survivors, and as long as they leave us alone, we'll leave them alone. When we leave, any of these other groups that are not part of the marauders are welcome to journey with us. If you want to call that a plan, then do so." Tom sighed and spread his hands, saying, "Look Reaper, if the zombies become too numerous we'll bug out. If the marauders don't stop attacking us, we'll bug out. It's a pretty simple plan."
    "I think your best chances for survival are to combine forces and remove them as a threat. It's only a matter of time before the marauders come after you again with numbers or tactics you can't survive against."
    "We held them off once, and we'll do so again, and again. This is a stout building and easily defended. We've laid in enough supplies to last the winter. We'll be fine. We also have no intention of combining with the others. I can't allow our security to be compromised by new faces, people that we don’t know. Not until we're ready to leave in the spring."
    The Reaper nodded soberly as he listened while wondering at the man's intelligence, and spoke again. "What happens when they breach your walls, which they eventually will?"
    "Now that, we have a plan for." The other grinned as he spoke.
    "If it involves fortifying your fence with vehicles and other large objects, I don't believe that will be enough. All they need is to find one large construction bulldozer, or snowplow, and they'll push aside any number of obstacles and drive right into the side of your building. That fence out there will not even slow them down. I know, because I've seen other groups of bad men do this before."
    "That was our plan actually, but I don’t think any of us thought of a bulldozer, or snowplow." Now Tom looked worried, as did the other men arranged around him. All were looking at each other with guarded expressions.
    "The marauders will, or something similar. Count on it," growled the Reaper.
    One of the other men spread his hands helplessly and spoke. "What would you have us do? Our numbers aren't enough to take the battle to them."
    "I heard they number around fifty. By everyone combining together, and careful planning, they can be taken with minimal loss."
    "Your information is outdated, Reaper. They actually number over a hundred now. We've been watching them and they keep growing in size. Evidently, they're raiding a Sam's warehouse in nearby Moberly. It's a ten-minute drive at most, and I would guess they’re picking up more of their kind from that direction, or elsewhere, because we haven't seen any survivors heading in to the city in a long time. We would have headed in towards Moberly ourselves but it also has about ten thousand more of these zombies than Paris does."
    "I can tell you why you haven't seen survivors entering the city in some time, Tom."
    The Reaper then quickly filled them in on the bodies he had found in the ditches lining two roads heading in from the east and along the road in front of the cemetery where the marauders were camped. The men were shocked at the news, while their eyes hardened.
    "Now you see why there's something that needs doing here, Tom," snapped the Reaper as he finished his story, and the other man ran a