by Germann, Tom
They all climbed onto the vehicles then carefully climbed into the now open hatches.
After a few more seconds and much scraped skin everyone was in the vehicles and the hatches were secured from the inside.
Caissons lead vehicle belched smoke and it started rolling away followed by the other two.
They drove quickly to get out of the area then slowed down again. In the vehicles, the three each grabbed replacement ammo for their side arms.
When Caisson started explaining about Sue and Tracy, Wagner just shut him up. “It doesn’t matter. You could have told me, in fact you should have told me. Why didn’t you?”
Sue answered over the radio. “Well since you seem to like being an officer everyone thought you had been lobotomised and would say it was a bad choice. After all we were are all safe in the headquarters, right?”
Wagner’s swearing was loud and long. Then he stopped. “What happened to our weapons? None of the rifles worked.”
“Vajjer, I stripped mine down. The firing pin is missing. No don’t ask. It can’t be. I personally checked all our weapons over fast before we stowed them last night in the vehicles. Everyone cock yours and check. Don’t load any rounds or shoot anyone.”
There was silence then everyone started reporting back.
Every rifle was missing the firing pin.
“Wagner. Those scumbags came into these vehicles and removed the firing pins. If we hadn’t been lucky one or more of us could have been bitten. They must have done it during the dinner.”
“Caisson. I am going to kill them all for this.”
“Wagner. Not now. We must complete the mission. We have spare firing pins and we know how to change them thanks to Sergeant Vajjer’s training. Make sure it’s all done now. We’ll stop for a second then do a test fire out the top of the open turrets before we roll out. Work with the belief that if a piece of gear left your sight for any length of time after we arrived it may have been sabotaged. Out.”
Sue came on the line. “I second First Caissons suggestion. We should just kill them all for this. Skin them. Out.”
SECOND OUTPOST
O
n the drive to the second outpost they had found a quiet area full of burned out housing they had been able to test fire their weapons at.
The rifles they had left in the vehicles overnight were all missing their firing pins. The machine guns were all still intact and everyone was cursing in the vehicles while they drove to the next target.
They were low on ammunition for their side arms now. They would need a lot more if they were going to run into so many problems at every stop.
Nothing more had been said about Sue and Tracy. It was decided if they came upon more survivors the two would keep their heads down just in case.
The vehicles were coming to the area where the outpost was supposed to be located. The area looked like it had burned out like the first outpost and not so long ago.
The entire area was residential and they drove through it slowly. None of the areas looked prosperous.
It was just working class all the way through. It should also have been full of people but there was no one around.
How many hundreds or thousands of people should be living in those homes? Where were they now?
No one felt the urge to get out and walk the area looking, so they stayed secured within the armoured vehicles and drove on as the heat of the day started to increase.
The convoy pulled up to another large store front with a huge parking lot. This was only a few miles away from the first outpost and according to the sign out front a part of the same chain.
The set up was the same as the first outpost. The command post, fuel dump, and the few other tents which had been set up were all burnt wrecks.
The damage to the building and area was worse than the last outpost.
After a quick discussion, the convoy moved on. There were only a few zombies in the area but no one wanted a repeat of the last time.
They started off slowly and were pulling away from the area when Vajjer’s vehicle stopped.
“Vajjer. I’ve got flashing light coming from down the road on my left. Second floor of the building it looks like and it’s not just a reflection. Someone’s being aggressive with it. It looks like they are a few hundred feet up from here. I also see bodies in the street. Over.”
“Wagner, I’m looking at the map. Take the next left then left again after that then go right. We should come out on the correct street a bit closer to them. Over”
“Caisson, no problem boss. Out.”
The lead vehicle took the next left and drove up the smaller side street. There were several more bodies here in the street as well. Some had something sticking out of their heads.
As they took the next left there were even more bodies, most were severely decomposed. Those who could see the bodies were glad for the hot metal and diesel smell which filled the inside of the vehicle.
Shortly after they turned right they could all see in the second floor of the row housing several people watching them as they got closer.
The convoy stopped as close to the building as they could get and Caisson opened the turret standing and looking around.
One of the doors opened and two men came out from inside the building in uniform. In the windows above several heads were sticking out keeping an eye out for movement. Some of them were holding what looked like crossbows.
The second and third vehicle hatches opened and Wagner got out and climbed down to meet with the two soldiers while Vajjer kept surveying the area around them as well.
The one in the lead was tall and skinny with fair hair and blue eyes. He looked young like he had just turned twenty and was sunburned till he looked like a tomato. He was wearing the rank insignia of a Lieutenant at his collar.
Next to him was a much older, shorter man with dark, grey streaked stubble on his head. He had the look of a man who had been used to working with his hands for most of his life. His rank tabs showed him as a Sergeant.
When the Lieutenant saw the rank on Wagner’s insignia he snapped to attention and saluted. His Sergeant came to a quick attention but then he relaxed again and continued looking around watchfully.
Major Wagner returned the salute. “No need, Lieutenant, we’re scouting out the outposts as we are all pulling out tomorrow. How many men do you have here total and what happened here?”
The lieutenant seemed to have a hard time relaxing instead standing stiffly at attention and looking over the Major’s shoulder. “Sir, I have ten men in my command including myself with another three civilian personnel here with us. The rest of the command led by Major Switt was wiped out by raiders several days ago. We were not with them because we were setting up different fall back positions and checkpoints for when the military came back in force. We had just set up these townhouses for a platoon plus survivors and reinforced the main and second floor when there was the sound of machine guns and combat. Once we had grabbed our weapons to go help them the firing had stopped. I personally led a two-man patrol back and all we could see was the fire. All the vehicles and our gear was gone. We came back here and holed up waiting for the infected to quiet down before we tried marching back to headquarters. Sir.”
Wagner considered the young Lieutenant. “You did an excellent job keeping your men alive here son. Can you hold on till tomorrow morning? Transport will be here then to pick you up.”
The Lieutenant nodded. “Sir we could hold out another week no problem with our supplies. After that it gets tight and we would have to do more scrounging.”
Wagner nodded. I’ll mark the map so you do not get missed. I am not sure when the transport will get here it could be very early morning. Just be ready and don’t try to bring anything surplus unless it is ammo, or food. Any questions son?”
The Lieutenant hesitated then spoke quickly. “Sir, when are we taking back the city? Have the other outposts been hit and did th
ey take out the people who did this?”
Wagner considered then spoke frankly. “Gentlemen, the few of us arrived yesterday as part of a small group of survivors. The Commanding Officer tasked me to drive out here with most of my people to find the outposts and arrange for them to come in to depart by train in the early afternoon. Yours is the second outpost we’ve have been to. The first was wiped out and so was the second which I am guessing was yours. I really hope whoever did this is dead and lying in the dust. But they may not be. The military is falling back for now. We will be back later at some point. But not today. I like the cross bows you have, good thinking. Nice and silent. I recommend you both get back in and under cover as we’ve got several more outposts to check on. Just remember. Someone will be here in the morning early to mid-morning. Be ready to move and travel light.”
There were already a few of the dead starting to shamble down the road toward the assembled vehicles and people.
Major Wagner didn’t wait any longer but scrambled back up onto the vehicle without giving the young Lieutenant a chance to salute him again. Both the Lieutenant and Sergeant walked back through their door which closed slowly and with a heavy ‘thud’.
As the dead were closing the soldiers above started firing crossbows at them. It took a few shots but the last of the small group dropped and the soldiers pulled back and closed window coverings while the vehicles drove away slowly.
As the vehicles were pulling up to the intersection and starting to turn a larger group of the dead that were following the convoy came around the turn and saw the vehicles. As always, when they saw their prey they tried to move faster.
The vehicle convoy slowly drove off heading for the third outpost while the growing mass of dead followed them.
In the tenement housing above the few soldiers from the second outpost watched as the growing horde chased after the vehicles.
The Sergeant was tight lipped and looking grim sitting with the young Lieutenant in a small room next to their main meeting room. It had only taken them a day to break through seven of the different units on the second floor. They had carefully cleared the main floors then secured and barricaded all the entrances except for the one which was a thick wood security door with a rusting layer of metal on the outside. The troops each had their own small room for sleeping and used two of the kitchens for making meals. The Sergeant had insisted everyone worked including the civilians that had come in. Meal preparation, standing watch on the third floor in the dusty attic and every night as it got dark one person would quietly read out loud a few pages from one of the books that they had found in the many buildings.
The Lieutenant was young and inexperienced. He knew it. He also trusted the Sergeant to show him the right direction. They were still alive while so many others weren’t.
He eyed the Sergeant in the gloom and waited for him to say what was wrong. It didn’t take long.
“Sir, I want to trust them but we saw what happened with them Patriotic Guard. I would take Private Gilly’s word that they did it. But we can’t tell anyone. I’m still sorry I told you sir.”
The Lieutenant shrugged. “It was too big to sit on by yourself. We just can’t tell anyone else and we need to be careful. What if they still have detachments in headquarters or when we get back? They’ve always done things their own way and I’ve heard the stories about some of their units getting out of hand. It’s just always been out of country. We need to be real careful when we get back. I wouldn’t want to have an accident during training.”
The Sergeant grimaced while he stared at the window. “I hear you there sir. We just need to keep quiet until we get back and can find someone who really cares or maybe we just forget what we heard about.”
There was a quiet knock at the door. Lunchtime.
The Lieutenant stood up and walked to the door. He stopped and looked back at the Sergeant who was still sitting. “Doing nothing is not an option Sergeant. We must bring this or any other enemy to the light of day and have them answer for what they did. We are Americans. We do what is right.”
He turned and walked out the door leaving the Sergeant sitting there quietly. He didn’t hear the quiet words the Sergeant whispered. “Not if it gets all of us put up against a wall sir. Right is always defined by those who are in charge.”
OUTPOST THREE
They had driven down the road heading out of the core area and quickly left the burnt-out wreckage behind.
The damage had been localized and after just a few hundred meters the damage was back to ‘normal’.
Broken windows, smashed in doors, cars up on the sidewalk or in other minor collisions. It looked like some effort had been made to clean up some of the wreckage. Likely after the initial outbreak before the local authorities lost control and everything went bad.
The good point about it was the scenes everyone imagined of crashed vehicles blocking the roads as drivers succumbed to infection and had major collisions was just not what they saw as they drove. There were some collisions. A car had run off the road and smashed into a storefront leaving a door hanging open. A pickup truck with all the glass broken out had run along the sidewalk knocking over a mailbox stopping when it hit a light post. But car on car collisions just were not on the road.
Everyone had waited too long or fled on foot. There were also cars parked at the side of the road. More than Sam could believe. He brought it up in their conversation.
“Sam, I don’t get how all these people could just wait and not try to drive out of here.”
“Vajjer. They waited too long. I bet a lot of these cars start poorly if they don’t run regularly. They probably hid out till the food ran out then ran out at night. It only takes seeing a bunch of infected going after someone who had made some noise to convince them it was the better option.”
There wasn’t much other conversation while they drove. No one was in the mood and tension was up not just because of the incident at the first outposts, but also because Tracy and Sue were with the convoy. The feeling that the group’s refuge had betrayed them was a hard one.
They would adjust.
The lead vehicle drove through residential neighbourhoods of low rise tenements in poor shape. As they kept driving slowly along the area changed until they were in a more commercial area made up of low rise buildings with small stores and offices on the main floor and what appeared to be apartments overhead.
They drove through a last intersection and into the parking lot of the next outpost, a large commercial building that was a grocery store with several smaller stores in the large building. To the side was a rail line, a side line which connected to the main rails running to the city.
This was obviously an outpost. Most of the parking lot was set up as a military encampment. From their vision slits everyone could see a command post, a fuel dump, collection points surrounded by construction style wire fences anchored with concrete blocks around the outside of the fence. There was also a fifty-foot antenna next to a jeep with a generator on a trailer attached.
It would be more accurate to say this had been an outpost once. A firestorm had hit the area and everything they could see was damaged. The fuel dumps were full of ruptured drums, the antenna had collapsed and all the vehicles were burned out.
The convoy stopped outside the parking lot. There was so much wreckage it made sense not to risk damaging the vehicles.
The three men quickly unloaded to check the outpost. The drivers stayed with the vehicles with engines running, just in case. Tracy and Sue were in the turrets manning the machine guns.
The recce team trusted Sue’s reactions more than Tracy’s, but at best Tracy could use the walkie talkies if there was a problem and at worst Tracy could let off a short burst into the air if she saw a horde of zombies coming. Sue, they knew, would put a burst into the zombies if it was safe for everyone, at least they hoped so.
The three men came together and started walking forward into the parking lot
.
The destruction was complete. Everything in the parking lot was badly damaged. Vehicles had bullet holes and windows missing. The fuel dump to the side had jerry cans all over. Some had ruptured from the inside and it was obvious some had been shot with a large caliber weapon. The different tents were burnt skeletons of metal with scraps of fabric still on them.
Whatever had happened here had been intense. The asphalt was burned and there were dozens of corpses. Unmoving corpses.
The three moved forward through the wreckage circling the parking lot toward the command post on the one side. They moved quickly with Caisson in the lead flanked by the other two men. Occasionally they would stop and check out something on the ground before moving on. When they came to the grocery store they entered the smashed in front doors.
The crew in the convoy tensed as they saw the three men enter the building. Tracy traversed the turret so the machine gun was pointing toward where they had been then kept checking the different vision slits around the turret looking for movement. Sue kept checking the area to either side of the building rotating her turret back and forth. Sue knew to keep her finger off the trigger but she was ready to open fire if she saw the horde that she kept expecting to appear at the side of the building.
Yet the area was clear.
After what felt like hours but was short minutes the three men came straight back outside and headed straight for the convoy. They each mounted their vehicle and climbed in the turret hatches Sue and Tracy had vacated as soon as they heard them climbing the vehicle.
In each vehicle, they carefully closed and dogged the hatch shut. Then they appeared to collapse in the crew commander chair.
In his vehicle, Caisson pulled out a canteen and took a long drink. Then he recapped the canteen and put it back on his web belt. He looked down into the vehicle to the two that were watching him with questioning eyes.
Caisson looked at his hands considering the dirt on them. “We have a second while the OC figures out what next. Everyone is dead. It looks like the troops here were keeping infected locked up in a cage area. When they turned, they shot them dead and put them in body bags. I’m guessing that there were maybe fifty troops here. They kept it together and were organized. We found some cross bows and quarrels. A silent way to take out infected coming up to the barriers they had set up.” He stopped and looked at his hands again.