Black Flag | Book 1 | Surviving The Scourge

by Klapwyk, Dave

  Then the door opened, and a man came out.

  Or is it a boy?

  “Don’t move or I’ll shoot,” Joe yelled as he aimed the gun at the centre of his chest.

  The young man raised his gun in Joe’s direction, and Joe pulled the trigger. The man stumbled, then fell into the snow. He tried to lift himself, but Joe worked the lever and shot him in the head. There was more shouting and gunshots inside. Joe stepped over the man whose blood was staining the snow red, and walked through the front door. He was met with a wall of smoke. The intense smoke caused him to start coughing, and he tried to cover his mouth. He thought he heard someone yelling, but couldn’t see anything through the thick smoke. A dark shape came through the smoke and knocked him over. He looked up from the ground and saw the person who had knocked him over run out the front door.

  Suddenly, he felt hands under his armpits and was dragged out the door.

  “I thought I told you to guard the front door?!” yelled Tank.

  “Sorry, I thought you might need help,” he said, but Tank was already running after the man. Joe got up and took off after him. As he was running, he heard two gunshots. When he caught up, he saw Ivette crying and Tank standing with his gun in his hand and two men lying on the ground. One of them was Kevin.

  “What happened?” he said as he knelt beside him.

  “Someone abandoned their post,” said Tank.

  “I’m sorry, I was just trying to…”

  “Never mind,” said Tank. “Let’s see what we got here.” He rolled Kevin over. There was blood oozing out of a bullet wound in his stomach.

  “Am I going to die?” asked Kevin.

  Tank took his hat off, and pressed it against the wound. “Yes, you are going to die, but not today. We need to get him to a hospital.”

  He lifted Kevin and started carrying him. “Go get my snowmobile, and we’ll put him in the trailer.”

  “What happened to my brother?” asked Ivette.

  “I’m sorry,” said Tank, “but your brother and his friends are all dead.”

  She started balling.

  “You can come with us if you want,” suggested Joe and then ran to fetch the snowmobile.

  A short time later, the four of them were speeding through the snow towards the hospital.

  They pulled up to the front doors of Commerce City Regional Hospital, and Tank carried Kevin in. Joe and Ivette followed him in as a man carrying a baby walked out of the hospital.

  Chapter 39

  Pascal carried Olivia past the men and the girl from the snowmobiles. The weather was changing, and he felt a winter storm coming. As he drove his truck out of the hospital parking lot, Olivia started crying again. He pumped the heat up to full blast, and she stopped crying.

  “Well, aren’t we picky,” he said, “let me know if it gets too warm. I’d hate for your highness to be uncomfortable.”

  He followed the directions that Effy gave him, and 20 minutes later he pulled into the C3. It was a former high school that had been turned into a C3 shelter by the army.

  When Pascal checked in, they weren’t sure whether to put him with the other mothers and babies or in the single men’s section. They ended up finding him a small office on the 2nd floor near some of the other families. They gave him a box of baby items including diapers, formula, blankets and a baby carrier. The carrier was a pouch that fit over his shoulder and held the baby in front and kept his hands free. He tried it on and was impressed.

  This could come in handy.

  In the office he changed and fed the baby while jets screamed somewhere overhead. Pascal put Olivia down to sleep, then lay down and tried to follow her lead.

  Chapter 40

  Kevin was in surgery as Joe, Tank, and Ivette sat in the waiting room. Ivette cried for more than an hour, and Joe put his arm around her shoulder, unsure what to say or do to console her.

  It was mid-afternoon by the time the Doctor came out and let them know that Kevin’s surgery was over. The bullet had been removed, and the internal bleeding stopped. He was no longer in critical condition.

  “Normally, we would keep him for a few days to make sure he’s stable and doesn’t have an infection. However, I’m going to give you his antibiotics now just in case.”

  “In case of what?” asked Joe.

  The Doctor ignored him. “He’s all sutured up and is in stable condition. He needs a lot of rest and can’t be moving around for at least a few days, so you’ll want to get him to a safe place where he can be comfortable.”

  “Why can’t he stay here?”

  “Things are happening fast in the city. I don’t know how much longer this place will have electricity, and I’ve been hearing rumours about an imminent attack.”

  “What? By who?” asked Tank.

  “Sorry,” he said, “I don’t know, but if you want my advice, it would be to take your friend out of here to someplace safe.” He handed Joe a bottle of pills and walked away.

  “What are we going to do now?” asked Tank.

  “We should go to that flame monument to see if Monique left any kind note,” said Joe. Ivette had stopped crying and was leaning into him, her eyes closing.

  “Maybe you should stay here,” said Tank. “I’ll go and check it out.”

  “Alright, but be careful out there.”

  Tank nodded. “Here, take the radio. You should call Camille and Tyler if you don’t hear from them by morning.”

  After he left, Joe slipped out from under the sleeping Ivette to take a walk. The hospital lights flickered.

  A nurse came out of Room 399. “Sir, you shouldn’t be here.”

  “Sorry, I was stretching my legs.”

  “You need to stay in the waiting room.”

  “I don’t suppose you can recommend a decent hotel nearby?” he joked.

  “Are you with the little girl sleeping in the waiting room.”

  “I guess, I just sort of found her today.”

  She held out her hand. “My name’s Effy.”

  “I’m Joe.”

  “Come with me,” she said and started walking away.

  In the waiting room, she pointed at Ivette. “Pick her up and follow me.”

  She walked over to the stairwell doors. “I can’t believe I’m doing this again,” she mumbled.

  Joe held Ivette in his arm as he followed her. “Pardon?”

  “Nothing.”

  She showed him to Dr. Ematha’s office.

  “Make sure you’re out of here in the morning,” she said and left.

  Joe laid Ivette on the couch and covered her with a blanket. He leaned back in the chair and fell asleep.

  Chapter 41

  Tank left his snowmobile, which was hooked up to the trailer and took Joe’s snowmobile instead. According to his map, he needed to go straight north. There were more army transport vehicles in the city, but he couldn’t tell if they were all going somewhere or just patrolling the city.

  As he got closer to the parliament buildings, he came upon an army roadblock. It was heavily fortified with three manned C16 40 mm grenade launchers propped up behind a wall of sandbags. A Leopard 2A4 tank stood menacing with its main gun pointed down the centre of the road. Five fully equipped Canadian Special Forces stood at the ready.

  Tank veered his snowmobile down a side road before he reached the roadblock. He drove down the side streets looking for a way around the roadblock, but found other similar ones at all point of access to the parliament buildings. The buildings backed onto Commerce River, so he drove toward the river hoping to find another way around. As he drove down streets lined with tall office towers, he saw something in his peripheral vision. It was a black form with an assault rifle disappearing into the side door of a building. He kept going for a minute, then parked his snowmobile between two vans. The building that the figure had gone into was one of the tallest buildings in the area, and he figured it might have a good vantage point. Also, the armed figure in black had piqued his curiosity. He lo
aded his rifle and walked to the building.

  The footprints in the snow indicated that there were three men, and all of them wore identical boots.

  He opened the door slowly, but stopped when he looked through the opening and saw a taut wire just above the floor.

  Professionals.

  He let the door close and walked around the back of the building. He found another door that led to a small restaurant-style patio. It was locked, and he used the butt of his gun to break the knob. This door did not appear to be booby-trapped. He stood inside the door and listened, but couldn’t hear anything. Tank slowly crept through the cafeteria and into the hallway. He avoided the stairwell that the others had used and opted for the stairwell on the opposite side of the building. The elevator buttons he passed told him there were 20 floors.

  He began his ascent.

  On every floor, he stopped and opened the door to listen. Each time he neither heard nor saw anything. He stopped halfway up to catch his breath, and 15 minutes later, he made it to the top floor. Tank deftly opened the door and moved into the hallway. He could hear voices in one of the offices. Ahead he saw a man with a gun facing the opposite direction. Tank ducked into a doorway for a board room. The room was connected on the far end to a small office. He walked to the office, which had a doorway back into the hallway. He peered out the doorway and saw the man still facing the opposite way, but now he was closer. Tank slung the rifle over his shoulder and pulled out his knife. He was hoping to use the man as a temporary hostage until he found out if they were Canadian Forces. As he walked closer, the man turned and began raising his rifle towards Tank. The knife instinctively flew from Tank’s hand and lodged itself into the man’s jugular. The man grabbed at the knife as blood spurted out. Foreign voices came from the room the soldier had been guarding.

  Tank unslung his rifle and shot the second man before he had a chance to get off a shot. The third man dropped the large binoculars in his hands, pulled out a pistol from his holster, and fired. Tank ducked as the bullet whizzed over his head. His gun jammed as he tried to fire back, so he threw the gun as hard as he could at the man. It hit him in the face. While he was still stunned, Tank charged at the man. There was an audible crunch of rib bones as Tank’s shoulder collided with the man’s chest and the pistol dropped out his hands. They both crashed to the floor. Tank grabbed the pistol on the floor and shot the man in the face before he had a chance to catch his breath.

  Tank looked around to make sure there was nobody else. He also checked all the bodies for signs of life, but they were all dead. None of them had any papers, tags, ID or identifying marks. They were all of Asian descent.

  Korean, Chinese, or Japanese? What are they doing here?

  One of them had an encrypted combat radio. The large binoculars, the radio, and the view out the window led him to the conclusion that they were an advanced recon team.

  From the window, he could see four of the roadblocks and the parliament buildings behind them. They were being guarded by a contingent of Canadian Army equipment and soldiers. There were tanks, anti-aircraft guns, and an M142 mobile rocket system. Voices from the combat radio broke him from his reverie.

  These guys will be missing their check-in.

  He upgraded his armaments with the dead soldiers’ guns. Tank grabbed the QSZ-92 semi-automatic pistol, a CS/L26 50 round sub-machine gun and five grenades. He retrieved his knife from the first man’s throat and the binoculars from his neck and ran down the stairs.

  On his way down, on the 12th floor, he heard voices from below and exited the stairwell. He ran across the building, through several hallways and corridors, till he found the stairwell on the opposite side. He pulled the pin from one of his grenades and dropped it down the stairwell towards the booby trap at the bottom. Tank stepped back, and closed the door. He waited till he heard the satisfying explosion from below then searched for an office to hide in for the night.

  Chapter 42

  That night Tyler and Camille slept in the theatre dressing room.

  Pascal and Olivia slept at the C3.

  Tank slept in the office tower.

  Zach and Ayesha slept in the cabin.

  Monique slept at the hospital.

  Kevin slept in the same hospital down the hall, while Joe and Ivette slept on the 2nd floor.

  None of them would get a full night’s sleep.

  Chapter 43

  Whatever drugs they had given Monique to sleep were starting to wear off. She lay awake in her hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. The last couple of nights were a blur. She remembered being ill in the cabin when Zach and Ayesha left. The next thing she knew, she was in this hospital bed. Some Pascal guy had come to see her with Olivia.

  Who is Pascal, and where is Olivia now?

  Her leg was sore, but she could move it. She sat up in bed and let her feet touch the ground. When she put weight on her bad leg, it was a little painful, but bearable. She shared the room with another patient, and he was snoring loudly as she limped by.

  She hobbled down the hall to the nurse’s station which was manned by a lone nurse.

  “Ma’am, what are you doing up?” asked the nurse.

  “I’m just taking a little walk.”

  “You should go back to bed and rest.”

  “What’s your name?” asked Monique.

  “It’s Effy.”

  “Effy, do you know where my baby Olivia is?”

  “She’s with Pascal, the man who brought you here. He seems like a nice guy.”

  “Are they here somewhere?”

  “No, but I’m sure they’ll be back in the morning.”

  Suddenly there was the sound of an explosion nearby. The building shuddered, and the lights flickered.

  “What was that?” asked Monique.

  “I don’t know. You better get back to your room - and maybe put your clothes on. There’s a major storm out there, and if we have to evacuate, you don’t want to freeze to death.”

  Monique looked down at her thin hospital gown and hobbled back to her room. In a small cabinet, she found her clothes, boots and winter coat.

  “What’s going on?” said one of the other patients.

  “I don’t know, but you might want to get your clothes on.”

  He snorted, rolled over and went back to sleep.

  Monique put her clothes on and was reaching for her boots when the lights went out. The emergency lights in the hallway came on, and she slipped her boots and coat on. She walked to the other patient’s bed and shook him.

  “Hey, buddy, wake up.”

  “Don’t touch me!” he yelled, swatting at her hand.

  She left him and went into the hallway. The fire alarm came on, and she could smell smoke.

  “Get out of here!” yelled Effy.

  She limped down the hallway as it began to fill with smoke. The sprinklers came on. The hospital, which was silent a few moments ago, turned into total pandemonium. Monique ran through the smokey chaos and into the snowy street.

  I need to find Olivia. I hope Zach and Ayesha are okay. Will I ever see Kevin again?

  She started limping in the direction of what she hoped was the museum. After a few blocks, she spotted a chain link fence surrounding a parking lot filled with transport and box trucks. The sign for the business was covered in snow. The gates were locked, with a loose chain. She was able to squeeze through the gap.

  I’m glad I lost my baby weight.

  Most of the trucks were parked in neat rows, except one box truck that was backed up to the loading dock. The driver’s side and passenger doors were locked as was the rear door. The side of the truck had a #667 on it.

  There was a smaller door next to the loading door that had a rectangular window in it. She found a tire chock to break the glass and then unlocked the door. Once inside, she used her flashlight to look around. There were racks, boxes, packaging and a small metal desk. In the middle of the desk were a set of keys with a small plastic fob. She picked it up and re
ad the number on the fob: #667.

  “Gotcha!” The word echoed across the plant. She wondered what kind of factory this was, but decided she didn’t have time to investigate.

  After unlocking the truck, she started it and turned on the heat. Monique took the smaller key off the fob and went to the back of the vehicle. She unlocked and raised the rolling door and took a look inside. There were stacks of boxes, and she could tell from the labelling what was inside them.

  “Eureka!” she yelled in delight.

  Jets flew by overhead. She closed the door and got back in the truck. The storm had subsided and the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon as the van smashed through the gate.

  Olivia, where are you?

  She drove through the snow towards the museum.

  Chapter 44

  Earlier, Kevin awoke to the sound of the explosion. He blinked awake and felt the hospital shudder.

  Earthquake? Where am I? Oh, yeah, this is the hospital.

  His stomach hurt, and there was an IV tube stuck into a vein in his arm.

  At least I’m not dead yet.

  Then the lights went out.

  God, help me.

  Then the fire alarm went off.

  Seriously, God, I need your help.

  He pulled out the IV and sat up. His head spun a little, and the pain in his stomach was intense.

  There was a wheelchair near his bed, and he painfully struggled into it as the sprinklers came on. There was no one else in his room, but he could hear the chaos happening in the hallway as people yelled, screamed and ran.

  Please, God, let me see my wife and child again.

  He wheeled himself into the hallway as the sprinklers stopped, but the chaos continued.

  Chapter 45