by Germann, Tom
hile the rest of the group were cleaning up the parts room and getting sleeping areas set up, Sam and Sergeant Vajjer headed back to the garage and met up with Jimmy and Corporal Toker. Jimmy was down to an undershirt lying on top of an armored vehicle with his head and shoulders buried in the rear engine compartment. Sitting on the small turret with a tool box between his feet and a rifle on his shoulder was Corporal Toker.
As Sam and Vajjer walked in they both noticed two soldiers with their shirts off and no weapons slowly pulling tools out of one huge tool box on rollers, wiping the tools off with a rag one at a time then placing it in another tool box.
Both soldiers watched Sam and Vajjer with sullen faces.
Sam and Vajjer moved to the armored vehicle and stood around the ladder at the side of the vehicle. Sam waved at Toker who smiled and waved back before scrounging around in the toolbox at his feet and handing a tool to Jimmy.
Vajjer looked at Sam, “Wow those guys look like they want to hang out with us and show us how to work faster. Before you say it, yes, it was sarcasm. I know those guys are just here to keep an eye on us.”
Sam wasn’t paying attention to Vajjer but was instead taking in the bulky menacing squat vehicle in front of them. “What sort of vehicle is this? A tank? Do you know?”
Vajjer turned paying more attention to the vehicle in front of them. There were five more similar vehicles beside this one. He noted the small almost squared off body sitting high on four large wheels. The enclosed turret on top was small with a machine gun mount and an open hatch he doubted he could fit through. The back had two antennae mounts and he noticed the body seemed longer than a normal car. He looked at the vision slits and snorted.
“Well Sam, I’m going to say this is some sort of armored recce vehicle. Kinda looks like a Ferret but a bit bigger. This one is probably a command version as there are two big external antenna mounts. Those over there are going to be the section or squadron scouts and I am going to guess these take a crew of two or three.”
Vajjer walked around the back of the vehicle and looked at the small hatch on the back door. He pointed at it for Sam. “See? The radio gear takes up more space here. I bet those other vehicles have space for two more crew. Probably for recce stuff.” Vajjer stuck his head into the vehicle and Sam could make out his muffled voice. “Yupp. Two-man crew. Driver and commander or machine gunner. This one is a command variant and there is a map board and desk for the guy in charge to track everything.”
Vajjer’s head popped out and he grunted. “Tight fit though. Personally, I think I would really prefer a G Wagon to this type. A lot more comfortable and a bit bigger.”
A scratchy voice asked, “Oh yahh? How is your Canadian G Wagon better than this beauty made in the US of A?”
Sam looked over and saw the two soldiers had stopped slowly moving tools and had come over to stare at the vehicle and the outsiders. He could feel the hostility from the smaller man who had spoken. His face was pockmarked and he had a nervous twitch which caused his longer dark hair to shake making him look like a treasure troll. Sam didn’t laugh as he didn’t want the smaller man’s friend to get angry. Standing over six feet tall the other man was BIG in every way from his shaven head which was the size of a basketball to his broad shoulders and his huge hands. His face was slack-jawed and there wasn’t much intelligence in the eyes.
Vajjer pulled out and looked at the two men. “I prefer the G Wagon because it has greater visibility all the way around not just these little vision slits and it has a good suspension system and heater. I’m guessing that this one, “he patted the hull, “is really meant for off road through fields but whoever designs these doesn’t normally put a lot of suspension in so the ride is bumpy. Of course, I bet this one’s armor is a bit better and I also bet she isn’t bad on fuel. Am I right?”
It was the right tone to take. The smaller man sneered. “These boys suck back the fuel like a company getting out of the field on Friday night sucks back the beers. Mileage is terrible. But she’ll do a great job. My cousin was in the armoured reconnaissance and told me all about how they handle. I got to go out on the test track with them once in the scout’s seat. What would you know about armored vehicles?”
Sergeant Vajjer shrugged. “Really not much. I’m a weapon technician. I fix broken weapons of every type. So sometimes I get to ride in some of the vehicles when we are test firing after fixing the weapon. Sometimes if the guys have time I get shown how to operate the vehicle as well. It’s the cool part of the job.”
The smaller man tried and failed not to look impressed, after a second though he smacked his large friend on the arm and said, “Come on Smitty, we gotta get back to work. The Sarge wants those tools checked and cleaned.”
The two soldiers turned and headed back over to their tool boxes. The smaller man glared over at the crew around the armored vehicle before pulling a wrench out and swiping at it with a rag.
There was a grunting huffing from on top of the vehicle then Jimmy’s grease smeared face appeared over the top of the armor looking down at Sam and Sergeant Vajjer. He snorted. “Those two are crappy spies but they’ve been leaving me the hell alone so far. I’ve been able to look over three of the vehicles so far and they’re all in decent shape as far as I can tell. The only problem is we need some more mechanics as there are three more armored vehicles, four army trucks and some other stuff buried in the back of the garage. There are also some really broken vehicles which I know I can’t fix unless we have a full mechanic and a shop with a hoist. I don’t see one here but there’s enough work for a couple of days here as it is.”
Sam shrugged, “Yahh but Jimmy you’re doing what we always do. Checking the engine over and doing minor maintenance and repairs, right? It’s just a big diesel engine. I can help and I bet we can get through these engines today.”
Sergeant Vajjer nodded. “That’s why we’re here. To give you a hand so we can check as many of these vehicles as possible. It’s something to do and maybe these ‘soldiers’ will accept us if we get some work done … or they’ll just keep being suspicious creeps.”
Jimmy snorted. “These guys are going to continue being creeps or bottom feeders. I’ve heard the comments about Toker here and these guys are all straight up racist. Not just redneck. I can be pretty redneck. But out and out haters. I can’t wait to get the heck out of here and get to some sort of civilization.”
Jimmy disappeared then there was the sound of a wrench turning from deep inside the vehicle along with quiet cursing. Toker kept handing the occasional requested tool down and kept an eye out while Sam and Vajjer climbed onto the next armored vehicle over and started opening the hatch to access the engine compartment.
Over the next few hours a full debriefing was occurring while the group’s sleeping area was cleaned up, vehicles were worked on and the garrison troops did as little work as possible. Other meetings and discussions were going on and plans were being made. Plans which included how to deal with the new people who had come in and disrupted the way things had become.
OUTSIDE THE CITY
T
he mass of undead that had been following the survivor’s vehicles had become a horde as it continued to slowly move along the highway. The horde had no feelings or desires. Nothing conscious at least. The group which had started walking had pulled in others. The larger the group the more noise it made and the further the noise travelled which attracted even more to the mob.
If any of the survivors had seen the horde following them they would have been shocked. As the mass of bodies crested yet another rise, ahead of them lay the city. A city of almost five hundred thousand souls. The over eight thousand damned would follow the road right into through the centre of the city. They would first have to move through the suburbs, over the rail lines then through the built-up core.
Not everyone in the city had been infected. Many had fled or been shipped out. Yet who knew how many more infected were still in the cit
y and would be pulled along by the slowly growing horde?
EVENING ROUTINE
H
ours later everyone was back in their assigned sleeping area.
The bunk area was as clean as it could be made with almost no cleaning equipment, other than a broom which was falling apart and some clothing they had turned to rags to help clean. After much talking and haggling with the garrison troops First Sergeant Caisson had finally given up on getting mattresses from them and had instead walked off, ready to throw someone to the Zombies. Or at least that was what he said later.
Caisson was not surprised to find that, while he had been gone arguing, Steven had gone looking and found more unsecured storage areas and fully assembled sleeping areas. Steven had told the rest and they had grabbed mattresses; thin grungy things which didn’t feel like they had much stuffing or spring left within so the group grabbed three for each person. They were just putting down sheets that were barely any cleaner to cover the filthy mattresses when Caisson came back.
He looked around and sighed. “Congratulations on finding some sort of bedding. I knew going to talk to these shit pumps was a waste of time. But at least we have something to make the floor a bit more comfortable.”
Sue looked at Caisson curiously. “Why did you go talk to them if you thought it wouldn’t work?”
He grinned evilly. “They expect it. Give em what they expect and they won’t look too closely when things go wrong later. I figured to go hunting for bedding later after dinner when most of them rack out, but you guys already did it. Did you find anything interesting like cots?”
Steven shook his head. “We found a few larger rooms which had been cleared out or had shelving shoved to the side. The one big room which looked like it was used for assembly of something had metal bunk beds set up with this stuff on it,” Steven gestured at all the bedding on the floor, “there were a couple of other large stacks of mattresses in the other rooms so I’m sure the bunk beds were for women and children and the men got whatever they could find. It looked like the rooms had been used as sleeping areas for a while.”
The door to the room opened and Jimmy walked in followed by Corporal Toker, Sam and Sergeant Vajjer. Vajjer carefully closed the door so he didn’t break it and sighed when the door creaked open slowly on its own. He looked around at everyone else in the room and commented. “Wow. Just wow. Not even in caps or with an exclamation point. This is crap. Did you guys kick out the rats and cockroaches living here before we got in?”
Everyone laughed while Tracy started looking around at the floor as if expecting a wave of insects to come rolling out of the darker corners and start climbing everyone.
Steven raised his hands palms up and smiled. “Welcome to the Zombie Apocalypse Motel. The rates are cheap and if you can catch any bugs the extra nutrition is free. No mints on the pillow.”
Everyone just stared at the older man. Jimmy was the first to say anything. “Steven, are you okay? I mean you’ve been through more than any of us I guess…” his voice tapered off and he looked questioningly at Steven as he didn’t know what else to say.
Steven’s eyebrow rose.
Tracy spoke up. “What he is trying to say is your wife died and why are you acting like this is funny?”
Everyone around her winced. Vajjer nodded his head then shrugged when Sue glared at him. Vajjer spoke quietly in the awkward silence. “Maybe Steven just deals with stress with a sense of humor.”
Steven dropped his hands putting them into his pockets and looked down at the combat boots on his feet as if seeing them for the first time. He spoke quickly. “My wife Janice is dead and I may have lost my daughter and the world I come from. Janice made her choice and it was a damned bad one. She did a lot of things like that though. During our bad fights which everyone has, she was … nasty. At her worst, she would let me know how pathetic I was and she should have ‘divorced a man who can’t even focus on getting ahead!’” Stevens’s voice moved to falsetto for a line he had obviously heard many times. “I was there for my daughter and the good I could still do. I’m going to grieve but I can’t sit on my ass crying.” He looked up and around at everyone making sure to make eye contact. “We are in the middle of a freaking Zombie Apocalypse in some sort of alternate Earth. If you can’t have a sense of humor here where are you going to have it?”
Sue walked over and gave Steven a hug. He patted her back awkwardly then she stepped back.
Caisson nodded and his face was neutral. “Whatever you have to do to get through the bad stuff without putting a gun in your mouth and pulling the trigger, brother.”
Steven shrugged then started as he looked over Vajjers shoulder.
From the doorway, someone cleared their throat and everyone turned, startled at the interruption, and saw Captain Wagner and Corporal Weibe standing just inside the doorway.
Captain Wagner looked around with a frown on his face. Then he shrugged. “Okay, if we’re all here. Let’s lock the door, put a chair under the handle and have a briefing on what is going on here.”
Vajjer shrugged as Corporal Weibe closed, locked, then put a chair under the door knob. “You might as well leave it open. The walls and doors are as thick as tissue paper and barely stop sound. Anyone coming here could really just walk through the wall to get to us…”
Captain Wagner nodded, “I know. We speak softly and we move inside. The locked door is only to give us some warning anyway. If the whole garrison came in here we couldn’t stop them anyway even with our weapons. But they aren’t coming in for that. We’re in the good books right now and are at least partially hands off.”
Everyone moved to the centre of the room and sat on the bedding. Vajjer stayed standing as did Caisson, both men leaning on the shelving and facing outward looking back and forth at the distant walls.
Caisson sniffed. “Do you want to start the debrief Captain Wagner?’
The captain shook his head. “Why don’t you guys just start and go through what you know and have seen. I’ll pass on the ivory tower’s thoughts at the end.”
The First Sergeant ran his hand over the short bristle covering the top of his head while he thought. “This is what I have seen so far, Sir. There is no real discipline. These are troops who aren’t even really soldiers. I think the best soldiers were pulled up to wherever they were needed and they left the idiots and troublemakers behind. Uniforms are dirty, boots sometimes look like they are falling apart and most of them smell. The smell of not cleaning themselves. I’m amazed they haven’t got GI going through this place given how bad some of them smell and I’ve seen a few who don’t seem to know how to shave either. I know they have running water and a water heater here. I washed my hands. So, the garrison troops are useless. I bet most of them barely know how to load their rifles let alone fire or clear a jam. Now I did see a few people who looked like they are trying to be soldiers. But those would be the troops in charge of stores. I asked for some easily issued items like a replacement set of boot laces. I had to fill in three different forms.”
The First Sergeant paused and started rubbing his chin while he collected his thoughts. “So, there is no real discipline here. A few people have bugged out over the last few weeks, ‘going over the wall’ is what they call it, mostly NCO’s and the junior officers. Some think they can do a better job on their own out there. I can’t believe someone would do it today though given how few people there are. I wouldn’t want to be out there on my own with a rifle and twenty-four rounds against at least part of a city.” He took a deep breath. “So, with no discipline and a, who cares attitude I’m amazed they haven’t tried to pull something yet like a coup or to elect a governing council. There are a few I could believe would do it. I don’t know how long these guys are going to survive or how they survived so far.” He shrugged, “That’s what I got so far. I don’t trust them, any of them.”
Steven leaned forward and started talking. “I found lots of storage spaces and stuff laid o
ut in the building. This was some sort of big assembly plant until just recently but a lot of equipment and stuff, like the contents of this room, are missing. I would like to know where it went. The outside of this building is old and built for a lot of weight and work. From the little I’ve seen these walls make this place a fort. As long as these guys could secure the outside there could be every zombie out there pushing against it and they’ll be okay until the final horn is blown. They have some sort of deep well system to get some water and a lot of power generation from solar. We haven’t been frying quite as badly as before because they use a system of windows up high to let out the stifling air. It’s why the air is marginally cooler in the building.”
Steven leaned back and shrugged. “Not really what you want to hear but it’s what I’ve seen so far. The inside of this place has been rebuilt at least partially before. It’s why the walls are so thin. They’re just partitions to lay out offices and work areas. Around the big heavy equipment, they put up thicker walls. If just a few infected get in here then I don’t think these soldiers could hold them off. They don’t seem to have the skills I’ve seen in other soldiers. I think they would fall apart and run away screaming.” He tilted his head to the side as if considering something. “Do you remember the supplies we dropped off in the store room with the food?”
Steven had said this without addressing it to anyone. Caisson nodded. “There was lots of food there but not enough for a lot of people for a long time.”
Steven nodded. “The store room with food is locked up. I was in several other store rooms though holding stuff like uniforms, radios, and other items I thought were just as important. They were all unlocked or I could get around how they were secured.” Here Steven looked offended as if being able to get around the garrisons securing of the stores rooms was insulting to him. “An old guy like me shouldn’t be able to get into those rooms without putting more than ten seconds of wiggling the door to get it to pop open. It looked like someone had gone through some of the boxes taking stuff and there is no paperwork anywhere or logs or whatever you want to call it. I think this place is falling apart and it’s a good thing we’re all leaving soon. I don’t want to be here when it finally implodes.”