The Ark Series (Book 2): The Ark of Attrition

by Scott Kotrous

  They can hear the Havoc plowing its way along the side of the house from the sound of breaking obstacles being crushed underneath. They receive the radio call that the Havoc is in position, so Martin and his men exit the house and rush into the Havoc’s open rear door. The door closes behind them and they hand the unconscious girls to the medical crew, who immediately go to work.

  Maggie doesn’t recognize any of the girls and has to double check them all before she recognized Tammy, who looks almost completely different from the last time she saw her. She bends down next to her and brushes her matted hair from her face. She bites her lip so she wouldn’t start to cry again, but it doesn’t work. Once she fully sees her condition, along with the numerous track marks up and down her arms and legs, the tears cannot be stopped.

  She almost loses her balance when the Havoc starts moving. An announcement in the cabin advises everyone to brace themselves for a bumpy ride, and every crew member needs to get in position at their gun ports. The sound from the fifty cal is soon overpowered by rifle fire coming from everywhere inside the Havoc. The shouting becomes so intense that it prompts Maggie to leave Tammy’s side and check the monitors to see what’s going on outside. The Havoc is almost completely surrounded by infected forcing the Havoc to slow to a roll, and she can feel her heart pounding in her chest. She can somehow hear through the chaos someone yelling in an attempt to contact the other Havoc but so far it appears unsuccessful, and her pounding heart rate escalates to a feeling like it’s about to explode in her chest.

  She looks down at her trembling hand when someone grabs it. She looks up to see Jen who appears to be in the same state of panic as she is, and the fear in her eyes only makes the situation worse. She can tell Jen is saying something to her because her lips are moving, but she can’t make out what she’s saying. She wonders if the ringing in her ears from gunfire has instantly turned into tinnitus, and if it’s going to be permanent. But when she feels a slap across her face, her hearing comes back and she can finally hear Jen yelling.

  “Maggie! Snap out of it! We need to help Tammy and the rest of these girls, they’re starting to wake and they’re screaming for their medicine!”

  Maggie looks at some of the girls who are awake and are curling up in a ball, clutching at their stomachs. She looks at Jen and then gets slapped in the face again. She shakes her head and the rest of her brain fog instantly dissipates.

  “Thanks, I needed that. What’s going on with them, why are they acting like that?” And then it hits her. She remembers back to her class on the signs of drug addiction, and it all becomes clear. She stops to think for a second how she didn’t put it together when she saw the track marks, but then blamed it on her state of mind for the oversight. She rushes back over to Tammy’s side and soon realizes she’s going to have to help since most of the crew is busy fighting the infected.

  She looks up at the glass cabinet just above her that has a giant red cross painted on the outside. She jumps up and opens the cabinet and searches for anything that could help combat their withdraw symptoms. She rifles through the bottles of mainly antibiotics and pain medication, but the only useful thing she comes across is a bottle of Clonidine along with the saline bags she already knows about because she had already watched the medical crew set Kristie up with one.

  She grabs the Clonidine and turns to Jen standing right behind her. “We need to get them sedated and keep them asleep with the Clonidine, and then get them all hooked up to saline bags and start flushing that crap out of their systems. Can you help me do that?”

  Jen nods her head while biting her upper lip. Maggie tells her to find some water bottles, so Jen turns and runs toward the rear of the vehicle and then soon comes back holding a few bottles. They both kneel next to Tammy and attempt to pull her head away from her balled up body. They’re eventually able to get her head up but her jaw is clenched so tight that they can’t get it apart. They try talking to her but they’re not even sure she’s aware of their presence.

  Maggie then gets close to her ear and softly says, “Tammy, it’s Maggie. I’m here to give you your medicine.” After she repeats that a few times, Tammy reaches her arm out. “No, Tammy, you have to drink this medicine. This one will help you feel better. Open your mouth so I can give it to you.”

  Tammy squirms and mumbles something but she can’t understand her. Maggie keeps repeating those same words until eventually she slowly opens her mouth and allows Maggie to slide the pill to the back of her throat and then gets her to take a sip of water. No more then a few seconds later, Tammy throws up the water and the pill falls to the ground. Maggie quickly picks it up and tries again, and this time she keeps it down.

  They sit with her for a while, dabbing her face with a cool compress and stroking her hair until she finally falls asleep—despite the chaos from within the cabin. After getting her hooked up to an IV, they are finally joined by one of the medical crew who’s able to help with the rest of the girls. But before Maggie helps with the rest of the girls, she goes to check on Kristie, who seems stable and shows no signs of change or setbacks from the transport. Once satisfied, she goes back to assist with the other girls.

  Meanwhile, Martin continues to fire out of the gun port while taking short breaks attempting to contact the other Havoc, but still having no luck. He can feel their Havoc barely moving and so his radio contact attempts soon become more frequent, and more desperate.

  He finally receives a transmission from the other Havoc that they are coming up the street from the opposite direction with hundreds of undead close behind. Martin confirms their position and then turns to look at the monitor. The sight of the Havoc and Piercer coming over the ridge with guns blazing prompts him to yell out. “Everyone cease fire and get down.”

  Just as soon as everyone hits the ground they can hear bullets hitting the side of the Havoc, but then it propels forward with such power and force it knocks anyone who was crouched down to the floor.

  Martin looks up at one of the monitors and can see hundreds of undead dropping all around the vehicle, allowing it to move forward. It pulls out in front of the other vehicles trampling anything still standing in its way. Once in full motion, the caravan thunders down the road leaving bodies in its wake, and exit the gates with the Ark as their destination.

  Chapter 28

  Simon sits there just itching to join the fight, but without even given any kind of weapon, he knows that’s impossible. He keeps looking at Jason and Dave and he just knows they are thinking the same thing, that even with the reinforcements the military called in, it’s still looking bleak. They’ve been almost completely surrounded by infected on and off for almost twenty-four hours, and the situation hasn’t gotten any better. No one’s been able to sleep ever since they departed DIA, do to the non-stop gunfire, along with the hordes of undead that slam into the sides of their vehicle; but it’s not like he could sleep anyway— even if it was quiet.

  He’s amazed that the Humvee they’re traveling in hasn’t been overrun by infected, but he contributes that to the skill of not only the entire crew, but mainly of that from the soldier manning the fifty cal; without him they would surely all be dead. He hasn’t stopped firing, not even during the countless ammo drops and refuels from the reinforcement Stryker’s and fuel trucks that are forced to plow their way along side of each convoy vehicle to make the drops, but he doesn’t think they can last.

  Much to his relief, Simon overhears one of the soldiers relay a message to the driver that the recon team has seen a break in the massive mob that surrounds them and that they’re almost through it. He can hear the gunfire intensify and then shortly after that their speed picks up. Not long after, he can feel they are moving at a rather fast pace, and the gunfire has slowed considerably. He looks over at Jason and Dave and takes a deep breath, and they do the same. They can finally hear the radio transmissions coming from the front seat, and they all sound positive.

  Less then an hour later, the vehicle slows to a stop and
they can hear from the radio transmission that they are near the Boulder base, but the reconnaissance team has encountered hundreds of infected leaving the gates and appear to be following something toward the mountains. They haven’t yet determined what they are following, but they have advised the convoy to hold their position and wait for further instruction.

  About an hour later, they get the call from the recon team that they’ve successfully breached the gates at the other end of town, and they’re making their way to the location. They confirm that they haven’t encountered many infected, but they should still hold their position.

  Simon waits with anticipation for the call letting them know what the situation is at the house, but nothing is heard yet. Finally, the call comes over the radio but it’s not what Simon expected to hear. The recon team reports that they’ve abandoned their vehicles in an attempt to not attract anymore attention from the infected, and that they’ve gone on foot to the location. They soon confirm that they’ve reached the house but it was abandoned, and it appeared as though there was a heavy battle by the amount of infected bodies scattered about. It also appeared that they had left by means of a group of rather large vehicles, but they didn’t appear to be military vehicles by their unique tread pattern and wheelbase.

  Simon can’t stop his leg from shaking or sweating profusely. He feels like a completely helpless caged animal that’s just itching to break out and find his son. But just a few minutes later, he hears the recon team say that they’ve followed the tracks down the road to a second house and that there was even more carnage. They ended their transmission saying that they had to double back to the vehicles do to the amount of infected lingering about.

  Simon can feel Jason’s eyes burning a hole in his back, and so he turns to look at him. Jason just shakes his head and crosses his arms. “Just sit tight, Simon, and let these men do their job.”

  “I haven’t said a damn thing,” Simon said.

  “You don’t have to. I know exactly what you’re thinking because I know that’s what I would be thinking if my boy was out there.” He leans forward and folds his hands in front of his face. “But there’s nothing you can do. So like I said, just relax and let these men do their job.”

  Simon looks away and lets out a sigh while shaking his head. He turns back to Jason and nods his head knowing he’s right and there’s nothing he can do. He cracks his knuckles and waits for the radio to sound with hopefully some good news, but that doesn’t happen.

  The call eventually comes over the radio that they’re going to plan B and heading straight for what’s known as the Ark, and the residence of the house owner’s uncle. They report that they will be bringing in a specialist who’s familiar with the compound, an Agent Smith of the ATF, because of his background and extensive knowledge of the Ark.

  The convoy eventually moves up to follow the mob that’s following the trail into the mountains. Scouting reports confirm that the massive mob of infected they just drove through was just the tip of an even larger mob coming their way. The radio transmission confirming their position right in between two massive packs of infected, one right in front of them, and an even larger pack behind them.

  Chapter 29

  John checks the rear camera one last time, finally the trailing infected can no longer be seen, and he feels like he can relax just a bit. He hasn’t slept much in days and the exhaustion has taken a toll, he sits back in his chair and exhales loudly. He looks around the cabin at all the tired faces, some unable to sleep from taking care of others, some he suspects from just not allowing themselves to sleep or can’t just because of the situation they are in, and the threat that lingers behind them.

  His heavy eyelids finally take over and forces them to close but quickly open with every bump in the road or any sound in the cabin. He takes one last look around the room, and then at Martin, who’s eyes are closed and seems to be sleeping in an upright position, rifle propped between his legs. John leans his head back, closes his eyes, and instantly falls asleep.

  He’s soon awaken by the sound of voices coming from the front of the cabin and notices Martin’s not in his chair anymore. He knows he hasn’t been asleep very long because his eyes are even heavier then before as they try desperately to close along with his body and mind just begging him to shut down. He can feel the Havoc start to slow and the conversation intensify, and he knows something’s wrong.

  He struggles to get his seat harness undone and get out of his chair and to his feet, and can feel his legs wobble when he stands. He braces himself with his chair and shakes his head in an attempt to wake himself and regain his coherency. As he staggers up to the front of the cabin he’s still unable to make out what they’re talking about, but can just tell it’s not good.

  He finally gets to the front and grabs the back of Martins shirt. “Martin, what’s going on? Why have we slowed?”

  Martin turns around and drops his head and shakes it. “We’re almost out of fuel and neither the solar panels or the Axle Alternator are working properly. We’ve sent a distress call to the Ark, but haven’t gotten a response and we’re not even sure if they’ve received ours.”

  John’s eyes widen when he looks out the windshield and can see how slow they’re moving. “Oh my god. At this pace the infected will be on us in no time. What can we do? What’re our options?”

  Martin looks out the windshield and then back at John and scratches his chin. “Sir, our options are limited, but we need to come up with a solution and fast. Because you’re absolutely right, at this pace those things will be on us like flies on shit in no time. We have no idea how many are back there so tryin’ to fight ‘em off seems like a long shot. We can abandon the vehicles as soon as possible and try to make it on foot, but because of the wounded and those unable to physically make the trip, that seems like even a longer shot. I think we’re pretty close to where we lost radio contact on our way to Boulder, so I’m confident me and my men can make it to that point faster than the convoy.”

  John drops his head in his hand and rubs his temples and tries as hard as he can to think, but his brain just doesn’t want to respond. “We’ll never make it on foot, most of us haven’t slept in days including myself and wouldn’t last a day out there. How much fuel do we have left, and are the solar panels or Axle charging at all?”

  “Only a few more miles left of fuel, and the panels are charging but not properly. And at the rate they are charging will only allow us to travel at a rate of less then five miles per hour, and that’s only if they continue to charge at all,” Martin said.

  “Alright, well then let’s shut everything down except for the engines and go as slow as possible and just hope and pray that at least one of the backup power sources can charge, and the Ark receives our distress call. The infected can’t be moving faster then one or two miles per hour so as long as we stay ahead of them we’ll be alright. Does that sound like a plan?” John looks at the crew and then back to Martin.

  Martin bobs his head and puts his hands on his hips. “Well, I don’t think we really have a choice. That seems like our only option right now. We’ll keep an eye out the rear gun ports for the infected and if they get within a hundred yards, I’ll take a team on foot and go ahead and try to make contact with the Ark.”

  “Sounds good, then I want you and your men to get some shut eye. There’s a very good chance you may have to make that trip and you’ll need to be as well rested as possible. This is not an option so don’t try to argue with me, you’ll never make it in the state we’re all in and exhaustion will certainly take over.”

  “Copy that. Me and four of my men will go to the back of the cabin and get some shut eye after we pack our gear and eat. We have ear plugs and eye masks so it won’t be hard to sleep. But you wake us as soon as it’s time and we’ll move out immediately.” Martin shakes John’s hand and gather his men and they all move to the back of the cabin to load up.

  John goes back to his chair and stares at the blank monitor and tr
ies to imagine what things look like outside. He’s too tired to walk back and look out the gun ports, and he knows he needs to get some sleep as well.

  He violently wakes from the yelling coming from the rear of the cabin, and he jumps out of his chair. He looks toward the front and can see that they are moving at a snail’s pace. He looks toward the back and can see Martin and his men gearing up. He moves to the back of the vehicle and says, “What’s going on, why are you gearing up?”

  Martin slams a clip in his rifle and looks up at John. “Those things are in eyesight and gaining on us.”

  John’s jaw drops and he doesn’t know what to say. He looks around the cabin at the scared faces that are probably thinking the same thing he is, but knows there’s nothing they can say because they don’t have a better idea. Martin radios to the drivers and the Havoc stops. Martin’s men open the rear hatch and exit the vehicle.

  “As soon as we make contact, we’ll have them send the third Havoc out to refuel. We’ll either get back in contact with you, or we’ll just continue on to the Ark.” Martin nods his head and doesn’t wait for a response before he takes off. Peter and Kelly close the doors and the Havoc slowly starts moving again.

  Peter then proceeds to hand out rifles to those who are capable while Kelly goes to one of the rear gun ports with rifle in hand. John stands there trying not to panic, not knowing what to do. Maggie walks up to him holding two rifles and tries to hand him one. He looks at her and then the rifle and slowly lifts his hands that Maggie then places a rifle in them. John stands there holding the rifle and stares at it while he hears someone saying something to him. He looks up at Maggie and can see her lips moving but can’t make out what she’s saying. A hand comes up and smacks him in the face and he can finally hear again.