by Gary Chesla
The men, especially the Captain looked uncomfortable with the doctor’s answer.
“However,” Doc continued, “I don’t believe we have to defeat them. I believe all we have to do is live longer than they do.
Live longer than they do may not be the most accurate way to phrase my meaning, since they are already dead, but it does convey what I am thinking.
Even though what has happened may seem unbelievable, I told the Captain yesterday that I believe all the laws of science and nature are still at work here.
Everything I have observed and analyzed, have all ended up being logical after I have had a chance to study them further.
We don’t have the time to go into how the virus works and everything it does to the human body once someone becomes infected, except for the one thing that I expect will be the reason that we can survive this.
Once infected, you all know that the body dies.
How the brain continues to function and make the dead body respond to its commands is still unknown, however there is one thing I know. The dead bodies of the infected are decaying as happens to any dead body.
I was in Hanger Four studying the dead bodies of the infected before I came to this briefing, hoping to learn something that could help us today.
Unfortunately, I didn’t learn anything that will help us in today’s battle, however I did observe one important naturally occurring event.
I saw an arm fall off one of the infected bodies.
It made me think and I realized something, again this is only my opinion, but it made me realize, even though we cannot defeat the number of infected that are out there, that we don’t need to defeat them to survive.
I believe the bodies of the infected will begin to fall apart from decay and no longer be able to function in another three weeks to a month.
We just need to stay alive until the infected can no longer function and we should be able to survive.”
“Thanks Doc,” Edwards said. “I’m sure that will encourage the men. It makes me feel a hell of a lot better to know we could actually live through this. The last few days I think we all felt like we were just waiting for our turn to die.”
“The first step to outlast the infected is we have to keep them out of the base. Let’s get back to the monitor as our time is short,” the Captain continued. “Over the last twenty-four hours the engineers have been working to dig two trenches between us and the advancing infected.
The base is too large to dig trenches all around it, so we have focused on protecting the runways and the building complex where we are now.
However, the infected have arrived before the work could be completed.
As you can see, the trenches don’t extend as far north and south as we had hoped to make them.
Lieutenant, after your planes make their first run at the center of the infected, I need for you to circle around and drop on the infected that will be approaching where the trenches end. We have to make it impossible for them to start coming around the ends of the trenches.
At this point, the infected should be entering the trenches.
When the trenches begin to fill with the bodies of the infected, release the jet fuel into the trenches and light it up.
I want the planes on their next run to first destroy any of the infected near the ends of the trenches, then take out any large clusters you see, but always keep an eye on the ends of the trenches.
This is a priority, protect the ends of the trenches so they can’t do an end run and start entering our protected zone.
Our goal is to get as many of the infected as we can to enter the trenches, halt their advance, and destroy them as they get bogged down in the trenches and mounds of dirt and rock we have created as a barrier.
Any questions or comments?”
“When any of the infected make it through the trenches, shoot them in the head,” Doc added. “A simple head shot will kill them. The brain still controls the body.
Kill the brain and the body will no longer function.”
“The plan is simple, but it is up to us to execute,” the Captain said. “Let’s go and do our jobs.”
“The infected are now crossing into the outer edges of the base, Sir,” Chervy reported.
“To your stations men,” the Captain said. “Good Luck.”
When the two lieutenants had left the room, the Captain looked at Doc, “You threw me for a loop when you told the men that we would not be able to defeat the infected. Did you mean what you said about us just needing to outlast the infected or was that just PR?”
“Like I said Captain, everything that has happened is logical. Like everything else I’ve discovered the last few days, it hit me after the fact. I did embellish on one fact.
It didn’t occur to me at the hanger that all we had to do was outlast the infected, it actually occurred to me during the briefing. At least this time it didn’t hit me as we were all lying on our death beds. Hopefully, it occurred in time to give us the will to live and do what we have to do to finally make it through all of this,” Doc smiled.
“Good work, Doc,” the Captain said. “It’s good to know that with a little luck, we might actually survive this.”
Chervy interrupted, “Captain, the infected are approaching the trenches.”
“Very good,” the Captain replied as he picked up the radio. “Sanders, time to get in the air.”
“Yes Sir,” Sanders replied.
“Edwards, the infected are approaching the trenches,” the Captain said.
“We see them Sir,” Edwards replied. “There sure are a shitload of them, but we’ll be ready.”
The Captain, Chervy and the doctor sat down in front of the monitor.
The Captain to observe and direct the men out on the battlefield.
The doctor and Chervy sat, hoping to see the infected be stopped and destroyed.
An uneasy silence filled the room as the men watched the front line of the main body of the infected start to fall into the trenches.
Rogers adjusted his helmet.
“Join the Navy and see the world,” Rogers grumbled. “Four years and all I’ve seen is the damn Nevada desert. If I wanted to be a grunt, I would have joined the Marines.”
“Stop bitching, the Navy has arranged for the world to come and see you,” Davis replied nervously as he lit a cigarette.
“They shouldn’t have,” Rogers said sounding sarcastic.
Just then they heard the sound of the F-18 squadron assigned to today’s mission, roaring down the runway.
Davis looked up as the planes rose above the buildings and began to circle the base.
“Show time,” Davis said.
“Do you think this is going to work?” Rogers asked.
“You better hope it does,” Davis replied as his eyes followed the planes as they began to get into formation on the western side of the base to begin their attack.
Rogers started to speak, but stopped when the deafening roar of the jets rattled his teeth and the windows in the building around them as they flew above the two men, only a few hundred feet overhead.
“I should have been a pilot,” Rogers growled, “That seems like the best place to be right now.”
“How the hell could you have ever become a pilot?” Davis laughed. “You’re afraid of heights.”
“It didn’t bother me when they flew us out to Fallon,” Rogers replied. “It was just like they said. When you’re in a plane, there isn’t a sensation of height.”
“Then why did you throw up all over yourself?” Davis grinned.
“I hear that pilots in the fighter jets throw up all the time,” Rogers replied seriously.
“I doubt that is true,” Davis said. “If it were, I would have been assigned to clean that shit up instead of latrine duty.”
Rogers started to chuckle, but quickly turned serious when the first of a string of explosions sounded close by.
Both men dropped down behind the wall of sandbags as dirt and ro
cks began to drop to the ground around them.
“What side of the trenches are they bombing?” Davis said. “That was close.”
Rogers stood and stared at the ground in front of the sand bags, “Is that what I think it is?”
Davis looked out over the sand bags and saw part of an arm moving around in the dirt, looked at Rogers and said, “One down, twenty thousand more to go.”
Davis and Rogers dropped behind the sand bags again, as a wave of heat rushed over them, followed by a loud whooshing sound. Next, they saw flames rising into the sky above the buildings as a thick black smoky haze began to drift between the buildings.
The F-18s roared overhead once again, followed shortly after by another wave of explosions.
More dirt and debris ricocheted off the building around them.
Rogers looked out past the sand bags, “No more body parts this time.”
“Hopefully that arm will be all we see today,” Davis answered as he adjusted his mask over his nose.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Rogers replied as he raised the rifle to his face, aimed and fired, “You better let the Captain know the infected are in the base already.”
“How the hell did they get in so fast,” Davis asked, as he raised his rife and fired.
Two zombies laid on the ground, the back of their heads splattered on the ground behind them.
Three more zombies staggered around the corner of the building and Rogers could sense more were coming.
“I got this,” Rogers said. “Go tell the Captain so he knows what’s happening, then get your ass back out here and help me.”
Rogers fired again.
Davis ran into the building to report to Chervy and the Captain.
Rogers had downed seven more of the infected by the time Davis returned.
“Captain said to hang in here,” Davis said. “He said a man from the trenches is coming to help us. The Captain said the plan is working well, but one of the bombs exploded too close to the trenches and put out the fire in the trenches on the southern end of the base. They pumped in more jet fuel and got the fire going again, but they think a few dozen of the infected climbed out before they got the fire going again. Chervy said if we see someone coming around one of the buildings with a rifle, don’t shoot him.”
Rogers fired his rifle two more times.
“Another clusterfuck,” said Rogers, “That’s what got us in this mess in the first place and what is probably going to kill us all.”
“You’re pretty good with that rifle,” Davis said as he shot the next one of the infected to stagger out into the walkway between the buildings. “I didn’t know you could shoot like that.”
“We’re from Tennessee, I was born with a gun in my hands,” Rogers laughed.
“I don’t remember seeing you out hunting or anything when we were growing up back home,” Davis said.
“Remember that limp my dad had?” Rogers asked. “That was from my first and last hunting trip when I was ten.”
“You shot your old man?” Davis laughed.
“After that, all I was allowed to do was shoot groundhogs from the back porch when no one was around,” Rogers grinned, raised his rifle and fired, dropping another of the infected.
“What about that eye patch your old man wore?” Davis asked.
“Smart ass,” Rogers replied, “That wasn’t my old man, that was my uncle and I didn’t have anything to do with that.”
Rogers raised his rifle again.
“Whoa,” Davis said. “I think that one is Martinez.”
The figure at the corner of the building raised his arm and waved, turned and disappeared.
“That should be it for a while,” Davis said as Martinez disappeared.
“Until the next clusterfuck,” Rogers said as the sound of more explosions echoed around the buildings. “Ole Top Gun up there might decide to drop a bomb on us.”
One hour later the Captain sat back and smiled.
“This was the first thing that has gone our way in the past week.”
“Hopefully it is the turning point in our battle against the infected,” Chervy said.
“I wish that were true,” the Captain replied as he picked up the radio.
“Sanders, bring them home,” the Captain said. “Good job by the way.”
“Thanks Captain” Sanders voice sounded over the radio.
“Have a few men take rifles over and report to Edwards. It looks like there are still a few hundred of the infected working their way towards the trenches. We should be able to take them out when they get into the trenches or try to come around the ends of the trenches. I think we have used enough jet fuel and bombs. Tomorrow is another day.”
“Yes Sir,” Sanders replied.
The Captain spoke into the radio again, “Edwards. Sanders is sending you a few reinforcements. Save our jet fuel. Post the men along the trenches in groups of two to take out any of the infected that get that far. Tell your men I said they did good today.”
“Yes Sir, Thank You Sir,” Edwards replied.
The Captain set the radio down on the desk in front of him as he looked at the monitor.
“It looks like we will live to fight another day.”
“It appears that we used a lot of fuel and bombs today,” Doc said. “How many more missions like this can we pull off?”
“Maybe two more if they both go this smoothly,” the Captain replied. “We used four tankers of fuel and about one hundred and ninety bombs. The strategy worked as planned, but it still took a heavy toll on our supply of weapons and fuel.”
The Captain picked up the radio again.
“Kelly, get the engineers back to work on the southern trenches. Time to get ready for round two.”
“Yes Sir,” Kelly replied.
“Three weeks to a month is looking like an eternity Doc,” the Captain sighed.
“Maybe we should start working on a plan B,” said Doc.
“Do we have a plan B?” the Captain asked.
“Maybe,” Doc replied as he looked up at Chervanak, “Petty Officer, with the Captain’s permission, would you please realign the satellite?”
The Captain nodded, looking at the doctor curiously.
“I’m all ears, Doc,” the Captain said. “What did you have in mind?”
Chapter 27
Tuesday, May 11th, Twin Rocks, Pennsylvania
Tony shook Mike’s shoulder.
“The sun is coming up,” Tony said quietly.
“What’s it like outside?” Mike asked as he stifled a yawn.
“It looks pretty clear now,” Tony replied. “Most of the moaning died down sometime in the middle of the night. There are a few stragglers here and there, but I think it should be clear enough for us to get on our way.”
Mike sat up and worked the kinks out of his muscles from a long night on the hard, wooden floor.
“I could sure go for hot cup of coffee and an omelet,” Mike said.
“If the old guy is right, you better start getting used to that feeling,” Tony replied as he sat on the floor, looking out the window.
“Yeah, I guess so. We should probably keep our eyes open and grab any food we see on our way home,” Mike said as he crawled over next to Tony so he could look out through space between the blinds and the window frame. “I see the Buick is still there.”
“Yeah, I guess that means it’s going to be a good day,” Tony grinned.
“I hope,” Mike smiled, “I’d say we’re due for one.”
Paul woke, got up and walked over to Tony and Mike, “I hope you slept well?”
“What do you think?” Mike grinned.
“I think you’re still alive,” Paul replied. “You can’t ask for much more than that now days.”
“Tony and I are thinking about heading out,” Mike said. “Any words of wisdom or from your experience you might think would be important for us to know?”
Paul moved over to the window and looked outside.
&nbs
p; “It doesn’t look too bad now,” Paul replied. “You might be OK.”
“Might be OK?” Mike asked.
“You never know,” Paul replied. “There are always stragglers. I can guarantee that you will run into more of them before you get to Johnstown. Once you get to Johnstown, you’re going to find it is a whole different world out there than the one you left.”
“Thanks for the encouragement,” Tony said.
“I’m just trying to be honest and prepare you for what you’ll find,” Paul replied. “Believe me, the day after the walkers came through Twin Rocks, I wasn’t prepared for what I found the next morning.”
“I know, Paul,” Mike sighed, “I appreciate it, but is there anything you can tell us to help us make it home. I have to get home today before something happens to Linda and Jamie.”
Paul thought for a minute, “Well, all I can tell you is what you have probably have already observed. The walkers are slow, but they never seem to get tired. They are also easily distracted. You might want to keep that in mind.”
“Distracted?” How?” Tony asked.
“Well, there is one trick we use when we try to get into a house to look for food,” Paul said. “It only works if there is just a few of the walkers. We send out a decoy for the walkers to follow. We have someone lead the walkers away from where we want to go. Then we hurry and go in to check out the house. That works sometimes, but you have to be careful not to get yourself trapped. Distractions works both ways. When one of the walkers see something, they start that damn moaning. The next thing you know, they are coming at you from everywhere. It is usually better to just lay low and wait them out.”
“That all sounds confusing,” Tony said.
“That they are,” Paul replied. “The biggest problem is there are always so many of them and they aren’t afraid of anything. Just don’t mess with them if you don’t have to and never try to drive through more than a couple of them. You just can’t do it. I guess the best thing I can tell you is good luck and stay out of sight.”