by Gary Chesla
This wasn’t the North African desert, but it was a desert.
Rogers also knew there weren’t any tanks stationed at the Naval Air Station here in Fallon.
The sound had him puzzled.
“Can you see anything?” Davis asked.
“No, the damn barracks and hangars have us boxed in here, all I can see is buildings,” Rogers replied. “Do you think we can reposition the satellite and zoom in on the base?”
“We could if we want court martialed,” Davis laughed. “Only Chervy is authorized to mess with the satellites. I don’t want to know what the hell is making all the noise that bad. Besides Chervy should be back soon, he will know what that racket is.”
“You think?” Rogers asked.
“Yeah, since Chervy has been promoted to Unit leader, he gets to hobnob with the brass,” Davis said. “He knows everything that’s going on now.”
“I don’t want to know everything, I think we know more than we want to know,” Rogers frowned. “I would just like to know what that noise is. It’s driving me crazy.”
“Relax,” Davis said. “If it’s like everything else that’s been going on, you’d probably be better off not knowing.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Rogers replied.
The printer started to hum.
“Make yourself useful,” Davis said. “That should be our next phot update of the activity approaching the base. Pull them off the printer and get the report ready for Chervy.”
“Chervy said the two large masses of the infected could be arriving at the base in another two days,” Rogers said as he walked over to the printer. “What do you think happens when they get here?”
“They won’t get here,” Davis answered. “I’m sure they will send the planes out to bomb the hell out of them before they get much closer.”
“I’d feel a lot better if they would bomb them now,” Rogers said. “I don’t like the idea of those things getting any closer to the base than they are now. What do you think the Captain is waiting for?”
“You’re going to drive me nuts,” Davis said. “Just do your job and the Captain will do his job. The Captain knows what he is doing. You, I’m beginning to wonder about.”
“Hey, look at this,” Rogers said as he walked up beside Davis, “Look at the western edge of this photograph. Is that another mass moving our way?”
Davis studied the picture, “It could be but I can’t be sure. We’ll have to wait and see what it looks like when we get the next update.”
The door to the center opened and Petty Officer Chervanak walked into the room.
Davis looked up, “Hey Cherv, could you please tell Rogers what is making all that racket outside so he will relax and stop getting on my nerves.”
Chervy laughed, “Don’t tell me a little noise is bothering you two?”
“Since every new noise the last few days has led to a shit storm,” Rogers replied, “I am kind of curious what the hell is going to happen next.”
“Hopefully the noise outside will mean something good this time,” Chervy said. “The Captain has decided, based on what he saw this morning on the live feed we set up for him of the Reno mission, that sending out the planes to bomb the dead isn’t going to be effective.
He said that the infected were too spread out and the bombs weren’t destroying enough of them to continue to waste our supply of bombs that way.
So, he has decided to try a new strategy.”
Davis laughed, “He has decided to make a racket and hope the noise scares the dead away.”
“What does all the racket out there have to do with the Captain’s new strategy?” Rogers asked.
“The Captain has the engineers out with the heavy equipment to dig trenches around the base. The idea is since the infected out on the desert are too spread out to make efficient use of our munitions, the trenches should trip up the infected and cause them to bunch up in tight knit clusters. Once the infected are crowded together at the trenches, the plan is to drop bombs into the middle of the group. Those that survive the explosions will be sprayed with jet fuel and ignited.
The Captain feels this would be the best use of what we have left in our weapons inventory.”
“Shit,” Davis said. “letting all the infected we’ve seen on those photos get that close to the base scares the hell out of me.”
“It’s going to be a war zone around here,” Rogers added. “Between all the bombs going off right at the base. the heat, smoke and the smell of burning flesh and burning jet fuel, this place is going to make Hell seem like a tropical resort.”
“The Doc was right when he told me we wouldn’t have enough bombs to stop the infected,” Chervy said. “I guess the Captains now feels the same way and this is his plan to get the most out of what we have left.”
“It sounds like a desperate move,” Davis said. “You know there is still going to be a lot of the infected that will get past the trenches. What do we do about them?”
“The infected that get through are up to us to deal with,” Chervy replied. “In fact, I need you and Rogers to head on over to the armory and get fixed up with full battle armor, a rifle and as much ammo as you can carry.”
“I don’t like the sound of this, Cherv,” Rogers said.
“With how the virus has devastated our ranks, it’s going to take all of us, if we are going to survive,” Chervy replied. “I’ll pick up my gear on my next trip to take the Captain the activity update.
The only good thing is we won’t be out at the trenches, at least not at first. The Captain wants us to set up outside our building and take on any of the infected that get this far. He wants to keep us off the front line as long as our satellite observation reports are still useful.”
“I hate to say it, but if very many of the infected get this far after what is going to happen at the trenches, there isn’t going to be much left of the base,” Davis said.
“I’m starting to feel like General Custer at Little Bighorn,” Rogers added. “Chervy, do you think we are going to live through this?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Chervy replied. “All we can do is try and hope to hell the Captain’s plan works. We really don’t have any other options.”
“Do you think they will issue me a machine gun?” Davis asked. “If I’m going down, I’m going to take as many of those bastards with me as I can.”
“You don’t want a machine gun,” Chervy replied. “The doctor said all we need is to make a single shot to the head to kill them. He said the head is the key. Your ammo will last a lot longer and you will be able to kill a lot more by making simple head shots.”
“That Doc is a world of knowledge,” Davis grinned. “With all his ideas, maybe he should be the Captain.”
“The Captain said he got the idea to dig trenches and burn the infected with jet fuel after talking with Doc,” Chervy replied.
“Then this new strategy should work,” Davis said. “I have confidence in what the Doc says. Did the Doc say if he thought we would still be alive after all of this?”
“Go get your gear,” Chervy smiled faintly. “When you come back, supply dumped us off a load of sand bags, how about stacking them around the entrance outside our door. It will give us some protection in case any of the infected make it in this close.”
“While we’re out, you should take a look at this last photograph the system just spit out,” Rogers said. “I think something is developing out west, but I’m not sure.”
Davis and Rogers put on their surgical masks and headed for the door.
Rogers handed Chervy the printouts on his way out.
Chervanak sat down and began to look over the photos.
He glanced at the mass forming on the western edge of the photograph.
It was definitely another formation of the infected, but that wasn’t what worried Chervy.
According to the report and what he saw on the photo, the mass of infected coming from the Salt Lake City area that was estima
ted to arrive in another two days wasn’t where they should be.
Chervy studied the photo closely and checked the time stamp to be certain of what he was looking at.
If what he was seeing was correct, they had a real problem.
That wave of the infected would not be here in two days, they would be her tomorrow.
Chapter 25
Monday, May 10th, Route 271
Tony drove slowly down Route 271.
“So far things haven’t been bad going this way,” Mike said. “I’m finally starting to feel like we will actually get home today. After that scene on Route 219, I was starting to wonder.”
“I would keep that thought to yourself,” Tony replied. “We still have a way to go. Anything could happen.”
“Like I said before, think positive,” Mike added.
“I’ve tried that. It doesn’t work,” Tony said.
Mike grinned, feeling better about their chances the longer they drove.
He was staring out the window when he spotted a sign.
As they passed the sign, Mike turned towards Tony, “Did you see that sign? There is a town called Twin Rocks up ahead about a mile. We might want to slow down and stay alert. Do you know if Twin Rocks is very big?”
“I’ve heard of it, nothing I can remember, so it mustn’t be anything special,” Tony replied.
“That’s good,” Mike said. “In case everyone there is a zombie, hopefully there won’t be that many that we can’t get through the town.”
“I’m not too familiar with this area, I never did any work out this way,” Tony replied. “If I was more familiar with this area, I think I would try to bypass the town.”
“Are we still good on gas?” Mike asked.
Tony looked down at the dash, “We’re down to a third of a tank. As long as we don’t have any problems we should be able to make it back to Johnstown.”
Mike nodded and continued to look down the road in front of the car.
“I see buildings,” Mike said as the car crested a small rise in the road.
From this distance, it looked like Route 271 was the main road through town.
The town had two other short streets. Mike counted about fifty buildings total that made up the town. “If that is Twin Rocks, it isn’t very big.”
Tony slowed the Buick, “Keep your eyes open. I’ll drive slow until we get through the town in case something jumps out in front of us. The last thing we need is to damage the car.”
As they entered the town, Mike grabbed Tony’s arm.
“I see them,” Tony said as he shifted the car down into second gear. Three awkward moving figures staggered out one of the side streets and were moving towards them on the main street.
“Just drive about ten miles an hour,” Mike said. “That should be fast enough to knock them out of our way without damaging the car.”
“That sounds like a plan,” Tony replied.
“But don’t hit them if you can help it,” Mike added.
“Do you want to drive?” Tony replied, sounding annoyed.
“Don’t get pissed off,” Mike said. “I’m just trying to be helpful. Besides you know I can’t drive a stick.”
“Sorry,” Tony replied. “Seeing more of those things makes me tense.”
“There are only three of them, just relax,” Mike added. “As long as we keep moving, we’ll be fine.”
Tony nervously drove down Route 271, towards the figures.
“It just seems unnatural to be driving towards the dead instead going in the opposite direction,” Tony finally said.
As they drove closer, Tony and Mike heard three gun shots being fired. One single shot after another.
Tony stopped the car, “Did you see that? Someone shot those zombies and they dropped where they stood.”
“I wonder what kind of bullets they were using,” Mike said. “We were using high powered rifles and the zombies practically laughed at us.”
“There is someone alive here,” Tony said. “Let’s get out and see if they will talk to us. Maybe they know what the hell is going on.”
“Good idea,” Mike replied, “but when we get out, maybe we should hold up our hands so they don’t shoot us too.”
“I didn’t think of that, maybe we should just get the hell out of here,” Tony said. “What if whoever they are is crazy or not in a friendly mood. After the last few days, they just might shoot first and ask questions later.”
“I think it is too late to make a run for it,” Mike said as four men holding rifles walked out into the middle of the street in front of them.
“Yeah,” Tony said. “OK, let’s get out, look friendly and don’t make any sudden moves.”
Tony turned the key and shut off the engine then he and Mike slowly got out of the car as the four men walked towards them.
When the men were twenty feet away, Tony said, “Hi!”
“What do you two want?” an older man of about sixty with a bushy silver beard asked gruffly.
“Nothing,” Mike replied. “We are just trying to get back home to Johnstown. We tried going down Route 219, but there was some kind of accident or pile up and we couldn’t get through. We decided to get off and try to get home on a back road.”
“Where are you coming from?” a younger man, about thirty years old asked.
“We have a cabin up near Dubois. We were up there for the weekend when all hell broke loose,” Tony said pointing towards the bodies lying on the road behind the men. “Dozens of those zombies attacked us at the cabin. Our friend was killed. We have been trying to get home for the last three days. Do any of you gentlemen know what the hell has happened?”
“People have gone crazy, that’s what has happened,” a boy around seventeen shouted out.
“They look like they’re dead, not crazy,” Mike replied.
“We’re not talking about the walkers,” Silver Beard said. “We’re talking about the bastards that have tried to come in to our town and take things.”
“Honest,” Mike replied, “we’re not one of those people, we’re just trying to get home. We don’t want anything other than to go on our way and maybe some information.”
“What kind of information?” the fourth man in a black hoodie asked. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties. All the men held their rifles as if they were ready to shoot Tony and Mike if they asked the wrong question.
“Well, first of all, how did you shoot those zombies and kill them?” Mike asked. “We had hunting rifles at the cabin. When we were attacked, we unloaded our rifles into those things and they didn’t even flinch.”
The old man with the silver beard laughed, “Ralph here is a piss poor shot,” the old man motioned at the teenage boy. “He was trying to shoot one of them in the heart and ended up hitting it between the eyes. It turns out if you shoot them in the head, it kills them.”
“I’ll be damn,” Tony laughed. “We used up all our ammo and left the guns behind figuring they were useless.”
“That must have been what happened when you hit that old guy over the head with that chair,” Mike said looking at Tony. “You crushed his skull. We had no idea why he just dropped and stopped moving.”
“The other bit of information you could give us is, do you know what caused this crazy shit?” Tony asked.
“Don’t you listen to the radio?” the man in the black hoodie asked.
“Usually we do, but we didn’t have any electric or radios up at the cabin,” Mike added. “We just got up one day and there they were. We don’t have the least idea what has happened. We haven’t heard the news for almost a week now and this old Buick doesn’t have a radio.”
“That’s a nice car,” Silver Beard said. “Have you had it long?”
“We found that car up near Cherry Tree yesterday,” Tony replied. “We have a Jeep but we had to leave it behind. Our friend that was killed had the keys and we couldn’t find his body, so we had to leave the Jeep behind.”
“Besides, with all the zom
bies around the Jeep, we couldn’t get close to it,” Mike added. “So we walked to Cherry Tree hoping to call home for help, but Cherry Tree was crawling with these zombies too. We found this old Buick and decided to get the hell out of there.”
“So you stole the car?” the seventeen year old said.
“Yes we did,” Tony replied. “It belonged to an old gentleman with a cat, but he was dead and wasn’t going to need it anymore.”
The four men huddled close together and whispered among themselves.
Finally, the older man said, “OK, we believe you that you don’t mean us any harm. As long as you get in your car and just keep moving, you can go.”
“Thank You,” Tony replied. “But do you know why this happened? Honest we have no idea what’s going on.”
The old man thought for a second, “I don’t know if anyone knows what really happened, but about four days ago the news reported that there was some kind of outbreak in Chicago and St Louis. Flights in an out of those cities were all cancelled.
The next day, the news reported that the outbreak had spread across the country. We started to hear about problems in Pittsburgh, New York, Washington and just about every city in the country.
Besides the outbreak spreading, there was also something about riots erupting in all the big cities.
By the third day, all the major networks were off the air. The emergency broadcast channel had an announcement running over and over about stocking up on food and water until the emergency passed, but that only ran for half a day and it went off the air too.
Yesterday the power went out.
The second day after the announcements, these here dead
walkers appeared.
They first appeared in big groups that ran through all the towns attacking anyone they saw.
They pretty much wiped out all the towns around here in two days.”