“‘Cause the ladies said it isn’t really a downtown at all. Just a road with a few businesses right off the interstate, then the turnpike turns into farmland,” Bryan said.
Colt studied the map. It seemed Bryan was right, at least on paper. He would’ve considered the same option had he talked with the women.
“They give you an idea where we could start?” Jake said.
“You heard of Boulder Crest Retreat?” Bryan said.
Colt scrunched his brow and looked to his brother. He had no idea.
“I have. Isn’t that the place veterans can go and stay for free?” Jake said.
Then Colt shifted his attention from his brother and looked to Bryan for the answer.
“Yeah, they have all kinds of activities like fishing and horseback riding for vets,” Bryan started.
Sounds legit, Colt thought.
Then Bryan continued. “And some other classes and stuff to help with mental and physical issues.”
Real legit. Colt appreciated anyone who took the time and care to help people deal with their PTSD. He had his own and knew firsthand how shameful one could feel, and the destruction that shame could cause over a lifetime if not kept in check.
“Okay, what about it?” Jake said.
“There’s one right off the interstate. Hundred and some acres dedicated to it. Some cabins, a lodge, and some stables. The ladies said if there was going to be a place where the infected might congregate, that would probably be it.”
After saying they would start there, Jake spun around. Colt stood taller as he saw the seriousness flash over his brother’s face. “Bryan, Corporal Stephens, and you will go with me.” He pointed to one of the men in the group. Colt didn’t know his name, and it seemed his brother didn’t either. Then he continued. “Both of you will go with my brother, Colt, here.” Jake tapped him on the shoulder. “And Bald.”
Separated? Colt wondered why. Colt watched as the unnamed men joined him and Bald.
He found Jake’s eye and was about to speak, to ask why they weren’t doing this together, but Jake offered the answer first.
“Colt, I’m separating us mostly because I think we are probably the best two shooters. If we get split up out there, we need both teams to be able to survive independently. Let Bald handle the tactical maneuvering.”
Colt’s shoulders sank. He didn’t want to come across defeated, but he really wanted to fight this threat with his brother. Side by side. Until the end. Like old times. But he quickly realized he couldn’t let anyone see his subjugated attitude. He loosened his irritated body language, puffed his chest out, and said, “Makes sense to me.”
“Now, everyone has their earpieces, correct?” Jake said.
Colt nodded and watched everyone else do the same.
“Don’t take those out of your ear for any reason. Is that understood? If I radio you and you don’t have your earpiece in, there’s a good chance we’ll all die out there. It’s that damn serious. Am I clear?”
Crystal, brother. Colt eyed his brother. He truly was a world class commander. So serious, yet calm. Colt grinned, but his admiration went unnoticed.
“Clear,” everyone said.
Jake continued with his well-thought-out plans. “All right. It’s going to be dark real soon, so I want to get in and out. As soon as we can find a few infected, if there even are any, let’s hit with the Beritrix tranquillizers and then get them back here. This is less about just shooting them and turning them, and more about seeing what the hell they are doing while we are in this facility trying to figure out how to take our country back. Colt! You follow us to the lodge at this Boulder Crest Retreat. We’ll leave the four of you there to scope the lodge while we move ahead to clear the cabins.”
Colt watched as Jake unstrapped a weapon from around his neck. He hadn’t seen anything like the weapon his brother carried. It resembled an assault rifle, or maybe a sniper rifle. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on it. He loved the feel of a new rifle in his hands.
“All right, I know Bryan already went over this with you, but I’m going to one last time.”
Uh, thanks, Jake, Colt thought, because truth was, he had no idea how the trank gun worked. Maybe that slipped Jake’s mind.
“This is a Pneu-Dart X-caliber projector gun,” Jake said. “They have been optimized to shoot up to fifty yards to your target, but for accuracy sake, you’re going to want to be within twenty to thirty.”
Doesn’t give us much room for error, little brother.
“You all know how to load a dart?” Jake said.
“No, but I guess I can figure it out,” Colt muttered. “I assume it’s like most weapons?”
Jake nodded, then continued, “This is where it is extremely difficult, and why we have to test this out. The Beritrix that returns the alien back to human form is coupled with a sedative. This will not kick in immediately like you see in the movies. This mission, and this task, is all about stealth. Once we see how this works, we can make use of our armored vehicles and helicopters to shoot the masses. But right now, we are going to be on the ground. We need to know exactly how long this takes to kick in. And we need to know if they are waiting for us or setting traps for us.”
“So what do we do? Shoot and run?” Corporal Stephens asked.
“For lack of a better description, essentially, yes. But that is why you all have regular side arms, and that’s why two of you will only be carrying standard guns with regular rounds. Two of you will shoot to tranquilize, and two will protect with deadly ammunition.”
When Jake caught Colt’s eye, he said, “Colt, you will have regular ammo. You can decide on the way down who will be your tranquilizer shooters. The important thing here is no matter what, protect our own. Colt, if the infected get too close to any of your men, take them down. That’s why you aren’t messing with the tranquilizers. You are the last line of defense.”
Damn, I thought I was going to be able to shoot something new. Lame, Colt thought as Jake mumbled something to Bryan the other men didn’t quite catch.
“Lastly, and this needs to be said,” Jake started, “this is as dangerous as it gets. You all need to understand that. They may not have guns, but they are relentless. Watch your brothers’ backs and listen to your leader. That will give us our best chance at getting back here alive. Hopefully, with a few more people we’ve brought back from the hold these sons of bitches have on them. Sound good to you, boys?”
Each man agreed, and then they began to separate and ready themselves for the mission. As they did, Jake stepped toward Colt and said, “Be careful, Colt.”
“You too, little brother.”
There was a brief pause, before both shared a good luck nod and broke off into their separate groups.
Colt mounted the truck in the passenger seat, allowing Bald to drive. The two other men stepped into the back. Colt looked at their faces and saw fear there. He didn’t blame them. Fear was probably plastered on his face too, but the fear those men felt wasn’t because they knew what they were getting themselves into, but rather because they had no idea. And neither did Colt.
12
The streets were eerily quiet as they pulled into the twilight. None of the men made a sound. No questions. No pondering. Just a disconcerted feeling of the unknown. Where were the infected? Why had they disappeared when they clearly had Jake and his men surrounded?
It doesn’t make sense, Colt thought to himself sitting in the passenger seat of the truck. It’s like they’re toying with us. Messing with us. Scaring us to the brink, then throttling back.
Colt hadn’t paid attention to how far they’d gotten from Mount Weather, but as they descended the mountain, an old lodge came into view. It was beaten down by the weather and time. Some of the windows had been busted or blown out. He half expected there to be an infected sitting on the front porch swing, but nobody was there.
The red brake lights of Jake’s truck shifted his attention.
“Is that the . . .” Bald
leaned forward and strained to see.
“Yeah, it looks like some sort of lodge,” Colt said. “Can’t be certain if it’s the one we’re looking for though.”
“I imagine it is,” Bald said.
“Good call.”
The closer they came to the lodge, the more Colt was reminded of his own home in Colorado. The similarity of the craftsmanship to his own log home was uncanny.
“They’re going on ahead.” Bald nodded toward Jake’s truck.
“God speed, little brother,” Colt said to no one in particular.
“I say we pullup near the front. Sound good?” Bald said.
“It’s your show, I’m just here for the shooting.” Colt chuckled.
Bald parked, and as Colt gingerly shut his door, Phillip Mooking, one of the men in the back seat, made a crucial mistake. Maybe it was the situation, or maybe he was just an idiot, but he slammed the truck door shut.
“Easy, damnit!” Bald said. “Stifle the noise. The infected can hear everything. Noise brings them in closer.”
“Sorry,” Phillip whispered.
They gathered at the front of the truck, and Bald said, “Stick to my ass. Remember what Jake said—use the trank guns. Our sidearms are the last resort.”
On the way from Mount Weather, Bald had made the decision he and Julian Franks would carry the trank guns. Colt and Phillip would act as the last resort with the handguns. Franks said he was a crack shot in basic training. Obviously, they had no reason not to trust him.
Bald proceeded, using the barrel of the trank gun as his guide. Franks followed closely, then Phillip, and Colt brought up the rear.
When they drew close to the front of the lodge, there was a rustle to their left. It wasn’t loud, and maybe could’ve been drawn up by the passing breeze, but nobody wanted to pass it off as nothing.
Bald stopped walking and turned his attention that way. The others followed suit. After about thirty seconds’ search, Bald left the noise alone and continued up the staircase to the lodge door. He paused there, scanning through the glass and attempting to see movement.
Colt’s heart danced. He could feel the beat in his chest and hear it ringing in his ears.
Bald reached for the handle and pulled. They filed inside. Bald was quick with his sweeping movements. His eyes were never off what was in front of him. As they pushed away from the entrance and further into the lodge, a whisper broke through the airwaves and over their earpieces. There was arguing on the other end. Arguing between his brother and Corporal Stephens. Bald found Colt’s eye, and worry passed over his face.
“Everything okay on your end, brother?” Colt had to know he was okay.
Each man waited with bated breath for Jake’s response. “No. Stay on your toes over there. I think we’re being toyed with. Clear that lodge and get the hell over here.”
There it was. Colt felt the very same way as his brother. Like these aliens were just doing this for fun, to piss them off. Or maybe to disorient them. Get them off their game, just long enough for the kill.
“These bastards are enjoying this,” Bald said.
Then Colt said, “Roger. All quiet over here.”
Bald pushed further into the lodge. It was grand. A wide-open space with a two-story entryway. Colt looked to the second story where he saw a U-shaped staircase lead upward. Memories of Anna flashed to the surface. The lodge drew parallels to his house, and he couldn’t stuff those memories back inside.
There was a check-in counter underneath the overhanging second story—a place you would go for reservations, or to speak to the owners or concierge about the activities planned for the day.
Bald stalled at the counter before leaning over the edge to see if anyone was hiding beneath it. All clear.
Bald spun around and pointed to Colt and Phillip, then to himself and Franks. Bald wanted them to split up and cover more ground. Then Bald pointed upstairs. Colt nodded, knowing exactly what he meant.
When they broke apart, Colt led Phillip. They made it to the staircase, but just before Colt took his first step, a gunshot echoed amongst the wood. The shot came from outside but was still loud enough to be heard inside the lodge.
Jacob! Colt wished he could yell into the comms, but he couldn’t. He paused and didn’t take another step. Then more gun shots rang out. Colt found Bald’s eye, who remained out in the open area in the center of the lodge. He, too, waited.
Not a sound came over their earpieces. Nothing. Not until a loud scream of agony pierced the silence.
Colt was frozen. He couldn’t move until he knew his brother was okay.
But it wasn’t Jake that spoke into the earpiece, it was Bryan. “What are you doing?”
What is who doing? What’s happening?
Then another voice rang out. “Greg!” Jake shouted. “Get in here and shoot them both with a tranquilizer.”
After a few moments of silence, Colt couldn’t help himself, he had to know Jake was okay. “Jake,” Colt forced out a whisper. “That was a lot of shooting. Everybody okay over there?”
“No. We’re a man down and moving to cabin two. We’ve got to get the hell out of here, but we need a couple more infected to try and turn. Emily suggested six, but we’ll settle for four. Get everyone over to cabin three while we search cabin two. Make it quick.”
“Man down?” Seriously? “We have a lot more to check here and then we’ll move out.”
“Copy,” Jake said.
Colt nodded to Bald as if to continue, but as Colt took his first step, he heard something. A faint cry, like a baby.
Colt scrunched his brow and thought, What the hell? It was a trap, there was no doubt, but the sound of the baby crying ate at him. The sound that was coming from upstairs was familiar. A sound Colt could never forget.
After all the struggles Dylan had going through childbirth, he also struggled during his first few months of life. Sleeping took effort, and there were many tireless nights Colt and Anna had to lie awake with him—rocking him until the wee hours of the morning only to fall asleep holding him in the rocking chair.
He continued toward the sound when he felt a pull from behind. When he found Phillip’s eyes, they bulged. “What are you doing?” he mouthed. “It’s a trap.”
You’re damn right it is, Colt thought and stared through him, then turned and continued.
As they climbed, the crying grew louder. Once on the landing, Colt discerned the sound was coming from behind a closed door directly in front of him. He took four steps and reached for the handle. But just as his hand felt brass, the crying ceased, and there was only silence.
Again, Colt felt Phillip’s hand wrap around his wrist, but Colt wasn’t stopping. Not now. He’d had enough of this bullshit. The infected. The aliens. Or whatever they were. They weren’t going to toy with his emotion any longer. Especially when they used something as intimate as the sound of his son’s cry to lure him in.
No. Jake needed more infected, and whatever lay beyond that specific door was coming with him.
He spun the knob but let go as soon as he heard his brother’s voice screaming in his ear. “Colt! Run!”
13
Shaken, Colt lifted his hand from the handle of the door and brought it to his ear. It was ringing from overwhelming reverberation. Damn, Jacob. Then he heard it again. “Run!” Although Colt couldn’t know if it was him he was talking to or the men in his own unit.
Then there was a blast. No doubt a grenade. Colt looked for Phillip, but found he already made his way back downstairs, heeding Jake’s advice. Colt gave one last fleeting glance at the door just as the crying started again.
It was like the crying was on repeat. Playing over and over until . . . Colt still wanted to make the infected pay, he wanted to go inside and take them all out, but he didn’t. His brother’s voice was the voice of reason.
Good thing he listened to that voice, because there were over thirty infected behind that door waiting to ambush him.
When Colt stood a
t the top of the staircase, but before he started to descend, Jake came back into his ear. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go! Colt they’re coming up the front of the lodge! Get out of there!”
Colt stared out the second story windows and saw the mass of infected rushing toward the lodge. Colt’s breathing stopped. There must have been hundreds.
More grenades blasted from the cabin’s, shaking the inside of the lodge and causing dust particles to drop from the ceiling. Some landed on Colt as he jogged down the staircase.
Bald, Franks, and Phillip were already near the front door. “Let’s go, Maddox, move your ass!” Bald yelled.
As Colt ran, he glanced to his left. There was a window there. More infected were making their way past the lodge—running for the cabins—toward Jake and his team. “Jake, it looks like they’re going to hit the cabins first. Get the hell out of there!”
“I’m coming to get you!” Jake said.
“No! You’ll never make! Go! Get out of there! Get to safety!”
There was a brief pause, then Jake yelled again, as if he’d seen something else he hadn’t at first. “Colt, get the hell out of there or you’ll be trapped.”
Colt shifted his attention back to Bald and the others. They were backing away from the doorway now. “There’s no way out the front, Colt,” Bald said.
The infected were breaching the door. The first—an infected male—leaned his torso forward and shattered the glass inside the frame of the rectangular window. Squeezing the trigger of his handgun, Colt put three shots into him. When he doubled over, the next in line took his place. Colt fired another shot, right through its skull.
“There’s no time for this, Colt! We need to move.” Colt could feel Bald pulling him.
They retreated deeper into the lodge. Trying to find another exit. There were at least three on the back side of the lodge. Problem was though, with the infected running toward the cabins, there would still be a threat outside, no matter which way they exited.
“There,” Bald pointed to a doorway.
Uncivil War (Book 6): Awakening Page 6