by Germann, Tom
When they came to the end of the area and they were about to drive off into a residential section they shifted over to another set of streets and headed back.
Again nothing. North then South again they went. Nothing.
They had agreed to do one more sweep as it would take them right next to a highway that led out of the city and into the downtown then they would wrap up and head back to headquarters.
As they drove North again there was no outpost. There did appear to be many more abandoned vehicles closer to the highway, but otherwise there was no movement or other signs of life.
The number of dead, while low, was also increasing as the vehicles slowly patrolled up and down the roads making noise which was attracting the restless dead.
They were turning and had just started heading South slowly driving to dodge around some abandoned vehicles when they saw something.
“CONTACT! Caisson. There are three guys just past the next intersection ahead in uniform waving at us! The area is covered with abandoned vehicles!”
“Vajjer, we have the way ahead blocked off after the next intersection. It looks like they created a barricade with vehicles. We’ll turn and meet up with you. Over”
“Wagner, ditto. Some transport trailers across the road. Are they hostile? Over.”
“Caisson. I don’t think so. I’ve got maybe four infected following me right now. I don’t know how they’re going to deal with ‘em but I am advancing, follow us in. It looks like there is a vehicle roll-up door in the left-hand building. It looks like they opened up the barricade they had there.”
The first vehicle rolled through followed slowly by the other two as they turned and followed Caisson. As soon as the last of the recce vehicles had pulled into the cleared area there was the revving of a truck engine and a large truck was moved back into location.
The soldier who had come out and been waving to get the vehicle’s attention kept waving and ran into one of the warehouses with an open vehicle bay. He pointed at Caissons vehicle then the one side.
They pulled in to the side and shut down. The next vehicle was directed to the other side and Major Wagner’s vehicle stopped in the middle. Several people ran in from outside and the roll-up door was brought down carefully.
Major Wagner clicked the radio on. “Wagner. I’m going out. Everyone else stay buttoned up. If their bad guys light them up, crash the door and we’ll try to push past the barricades and bail. I’ll try to stay safe behind the vehicle until I can load in. I think they’re okay. But I’m not risking anyone. The clear signal is going to be the thumb down. Out”
Before anyone could respond he had unlocked the hatch and stood up and started climbing out. He left the rifle and shotgun but kept the sidearm on his hip. He stepped out of the hatch and onto the back deck of the vehicle taking just a second to slam the hatch down. He could hear the lock being secured from inside and realized he was on his own.
He looked around the huge warehouse taking everything in. It was one of the biggest warehouses he had seen in the area. They had been directed into the loading area where trucks would have backed in to load or unload. There was a forklift further in and several other vehicles parked within the building. It looked like it was mostly civilian cars.
He hadn’t really been paying attention to the signs on the warehouses as they had driven through so he had no clue what was stored here. It was a generic warehouse with shelving rising to the top of the roughly thirty-foot building. Those shelves were full of pallets and cases. They could have held anything.
The man who had waved them in walked over to the vehicle keeping his rifle slung and Major Wagner focussed on him finally. Most of the men were in uniform but not all. Those in uniform had rifles while the civilians were carrying shotguns. Some of the men also had crossbows with bolts in small carriers attached to their belts. No one was pointing a weapon at him but they were watching him carefully.
The soldier who walked up was six feet tall and looked thin like everyone else. He had the look of someone who liked food but had been without for a while. In the light from the skylights and the few windows up high the gleam of metal rank pins was obvious.
The man was considering Wagner as well. “Nice to see a friendly face. We’ve been out here for several weeks now. The vehicles are part of our unit but I don’t recognize you and we haven’t seen anyone for a couple of weeks now. Are you part of the reinforcements we were expecting? My men saw you scouting the area looking for us. No one else has so I’m hopeful.” The man paused for a second. His tone was more casual when he asked the next question. “Say, you aren’t Patriotic Guard, are you?”
Major Wagner noticed several of the men tense up at the mention of the unit. He shook his head. “We’re survivors that made it to your headquarters. Your Commanding Officer sent us out to tell all the outposts to report back in. There is a train due in tomorrow we are all taking out of here. One of the outposts was manned by Patriotic Guard, right?”
The soldier nodded.
Wagner shrugged. “It looks like they grabbed what supplies they could and they bugged out a few days ago. It looks like they were heading for some collection point close to a big site in the centre of the country.”
Everyone seemed to relax just a bit when Wagner disclosed the Guard had left the city.
“So, I guess you’re the Company Commander for the outpost? Do you mind if I come down?”
The soldier grinned. “Sure. Sorry but we were a bit concerned. We almost didn’t let you all into the compound. The Guard was sniffing around almost two weeks ago but we had also heard some rumors and there have been incidents.”
When Wagner dropped to the floor he stuck his hand out to the taller man. “Well I’m glad to see more survivors. I’m Major Wagner and I’m in charge of the three-vehicle convoy we’re running.”
The taller man took the hand and pumped it. “Captain Hastings. We’ve been hiding out here since we were sent. Who’s in charge back at HQ? Is it still Major Chesterling? Or did they find someone else to ship forward to deal with everything?”
Wagner shook his head. “It’s Colonel Chesterling and he was talking about promotion when we leave during the mess dinner we had when we arrived yesterday.”
The Captains face froze. “That idiot made Colonel?? What about everyone ahead of him? There were four hundred troops and all their leaders. The Major oversaw planning resupply runs and social activities. The resupply runs were complete failures and the social activities were formal dinners. We are living in the middle of the apocalypse and instead of getting ammunition, food and supplies out to us he was successfully getting dinner arranged.”
The Captain stopped and looked around at the vehicles. “It’s hot as being on the surface of the sun today. Do you want to have your people unload? We aren’t going to ambush you or anything like that. We still follow orders. Anyway, we’re way better equipped than you are with the issued gear.”
Major Wagner turned and gave the thumbs down in an exaggerated motion. It only took seconds before the hatches on the vehicles popped open and everyone climbed out. He noticed the drivers were soaked through with sweat and both Sue and Tracy didn’t look much better.
“I guess we could use a break from those sweat boxes before we head on.” He waved his people over. “Alright. This is outpost eight. Hopefully Captain Hastings can fill us in on what happened here and we can get a short break before we head back. Everyone drink and get some rest. Drivers stay with the vehicles as well as you two.” Here he looked specifically at Sue and Tracy. Both nodded. “I want to be back at the base well before nightfall.”
He turned to look at the Captain. “Could you brief us here on what happened? I think it would be good if my people heard first-hand what had happened instead of only getting some of the information later. If we even have time.”
The Captain nodded and turning started yelling directions to his people. “Serge! Can you have the guys bring some ch
airs, a table, cold water, and some of our leftover lunch? Sergeant Orlen. Carry out a quick check of the perimeter to make sure we are clear then anyone not involved can come over and listen in. Just don’t interrupt every minute. This convoy has a bit of driving left to do.”
He turned back to the Major. “Absolutely sir. I believe the more information everyone has the better. My boys will have us set up in a second then I can tell you what we went through initially while you eat and drink. Then you could tell us what’s going on then maybe we can all get some questions answered.”
Folding chairs and large heavy tables were brought over by several large beefy men. Unlike the headquarters where the men had openly ogled Sue and Tracy here the men were polite without being threatening.
In a minute, everyone was sitting drinking mugs of cold water poured form a large jerry can. Then bowls of a warm stew that smelled good were brought over with some bread. Everyone seemed to relax a bit then as they dug into the warm food.
Captain Hastings took a sip of water then leaning back he began his story.
“Well sir, this outbreak happened and happened fast, you already know this but it still hits me. Suddenly in almost every city and town on the coast there was a flu outbreak. It spread like wildfire. Then it started to get strange. There were already stories about the outbreak in Europe and beyond. Them Commies must have started it. As we started to have our own outbreak there were rumours going around their ruling party had ordered the army and some cities to seal up. Stories of high walls going around every important city and those places being locked down. Death squads killing the infected and more. But we didn’t know.” The Captain took another sip of water and looked at the table top while he relived those first few weeks. “I’m career military. But I have a big mouth and do things right without wasting. Take care of your men, your mission then yourself. So I know I ain’t going to be promoted. At least not fast. But it seems our high command didn’t believe what we were reporting. I was attached to the first group in the city as part of the advance party. Uninfected were to be taken back to the Refuge as it is still there. We all had heard that after a few days the flu killed you. So, we came in and set up to get survivors back. If we were lucky then we could save most of the civilians here. Then things got bad. There were ninety of us in the advance a few days earlier. There were a lot of people hiding in the city and a lot who had run for the hills. They hoped to get past the infection and stay away until it had burned itself out. We were setting up for different plans to be decided on when the unit got here. Three thousand soldiers were going to move in and lock the city down. I was one of those out in a truck with a four-man section checking out sites for detached companies to collect then ship survivors in for shipment out of the city. I sited in twelve locations that day. There were still lots of people in the city. People were waving at us while we drove through the different neighbourhoods. There were not so many infected roaming around all wild and insane. The order had come down. If we did see infected it was shoot to kill. When they go mad with the pain they don’t get better and there was no cure. Vaccines don’t seem to work.”
The Captain shrugged and his face twisted into a bitter mask for a second. No one spoke, but let him carry on at his own speed.
“So, we were heading back in the truck. There was a civilian being chased by three infected. We were in the cattle yards and they were still running. Nothing stops American industry. Not some stupid cold. Well we stopped the truck and got out. The woman had seen us and was running down the road toward us. She was seventy feet away and the infected were catching up to her. We spread out in a line. We only needed another second and we could have shot the infected down. But the woman tripped. Then the lead infected was on her. Biting and scratching. We brought our weapons up and opened fire. I only had my forty-five on me and the range was too far but I emptied my magazine anyway.
“We killed the three infected and went to help the poor woman. But the first one had bitten her throat almost completely out. There was blood everywhere and by the time we ran up she was almost gone. She was no spring chicken and she had arms on her like a stevedore. She must have been one of those who worked in the slaughterhouse moving the corpses on meat hooks. She looked at me and was whispering to the end, ‘don’t let me come back’. I didn’t know what it meant. We had all reloaded and were staying away from the infected. None of us needed to get scratched if one of them had a spark of life left. Well, we must have stood there for maybe five minutes. I was just starting to think of all the paperwork I would have to fill in because we had just gunned them down. Then one of my boys. Sergeant Smith, he was a good man, he noticed the one infected’s arm was moving. Then he was starting to sit up. Or trying to anyway. Then the other two started moving as well. Well sir I tell you, I’ve seen dead people before. In combat and helping civil authorities after dreadful things have happened. There was a lot of blood and it was everywhere. Nothing could have lived through so many rounds tearing through them. But those three started to stand up. It was shit scary. It was worse when you saw their eyes. Milky white and looking like a dead mans. What was worse was one of those boys had taken three rounds in the chest. The hole was big enough so you could see right through him. Then they started walking toward us. We had backed off from them when they started moving. Corporal Holtz put an entire magazine into one that was moving toward him. It didn’t fall. One of them was coming for me. I shot it centre of mass three times and nothing. I shot it in the head and it fell. Then the others took headshots and they fell. Nothing else stopped them.
“I was trying to figure out what was happening when the woman started moving. She had lost a lot of blood but she was moving and getting up. I moved closer to help her while the rest of the boys were staying back, reloading, and keeping an eye out. I saw her eyes. They were the same milky white of the other infected and she didn’t look alive to me at all. I had three rounds left in my magazine. I shot her all three times in the chest. Those hits just pushed her down but she started getting back up again almost immediately. I backed off and reloaded then Corporal Holtz shot her in the head. Her head snapped back and she stopped moving. There were a few more of the infected ahead of us way down the road and they were coming toward us now, what with all the shooting it was no wonder they knew to come. We didn’t know back then to keep quiet. They were walking slow and funny. We got back in the truck and left.”
The Captain stopped and took another drink of the cool water and topped up his mug before continuing.
“Back at base I reported what we had seen along with the statements of my boys. Others had reported the same thing. It was dismissed as combat fatigue and the stress of having to shoot our own citizens. At least that was what the high command said when the information was passed back to army command. The General arrived a day later with a convoy and three hundred more soldiers. We started setting up immediately about a week after the flu was recognized as a major outbreak and probably a commie attack on the US. The General and his staff agreed with setting up collection points around the city. All twelve positions were going to be set up manned by a full company with attached medical personnel to verify if the refugees were ill or not. We left that morning to set up in the locations we had agreed to and dropped ten men off per location and some equipment. Because of looters everyone was armed and had ammunition. Until we were fully set up infected were treated as enemy agents. No one liked it but the flu was bad and contagious so we needed to protect ourselves.
“The rest of the main body was working with the city services. Roads were cleared, power and water were thrown on automatic at half use. The city engineers figured the automated systems for solar and water could operate for up to two years if the demand was dropped right down. After that? Well we should have it resolved before then and we needed to have water and power if we wanted to have survivors. The utilities were abandoned about a week later anyway.
“At this point big business was screaming its head off. Pr
oduction was over. Most workers had stayed at home. The repair costs for all the damage and lost man hours were going to be huge. The president had pushed for and been about to receive a passing of an act for increased taxes to assist in this time of need. They lobbied against it and the act was shot down. Of course, when the word commie gets attached to anything it seems to fail. After all government is supposed to be small and not affect the normal man in the day to day life they live. So full mobilization didn’t happen until the big companies had won. I don’t know what they got. No one does. It was signed in a secret meeting but to keep our American citizens free from excessive government intervention? It probably cost a million or more people their lives as infection spread. I’m not sure if you heard but all those who had been infected because the government didn’t act fast enough? That was the governments fault for not being ready. Most of our gear except for a few field force units is barely working and it was the government’s fault we had garbage to work with.”
The captain sighed and drank the mug dry and stared at it as if wishing it was something stronger.
“So, then another three hundred troops showed up by train. We were all run ragged by then. We had troops working twenty hour days and still not getting everything done. We needed the full three thousand troops just to keep the basics going in this here city. The rest of the troops were not coming though. Hostilities were heating up on the Mexican border. They only had a few outbreaks and they had eliminated them. So, Mexico had moved most of the army North and South and started laying mines and wire. See, people were heading to Mexico because it was safer. So, we had nine hundred soldiers for the whole city. About eighty of those are the idiots no one wants. One individual started planning a formal dining in. Everyone attended.
“The unit kept clearing the main roads of abandoned or damaged vehicles. Every outpost had twenty troops and daily bus runs back in to drop off the refugees. I had taken this location and barricaded it off. This road is the main route in from the highway. Anyone coming from the North is going to end up coming this way. We painted several billboards and put a damaged truck out just north of here with directions on the side. We were supposed to be getting another thousand or more troops in a few days. We had an armoured company out of the Patriotic Guard show up along with one of their line companies. They wouldn’t split up and the CO couldn’t make them as they are a separate command. The outposts went from twelve to eight and everyone could get some more troops but not much more ammunition or gear. The Guard took outpost seven. There were a hundred and twenty-three of them. They started recruiting from the unit and the locals. They had about thirty volunteers from the refugees. They had more and better gear. Tons of ammunition and supplies. They set up in the slaughterhouse district. I’ve worked with them before. I saw what they did when they were deployed off US soil. Now they were in a worse situation on our soil. I moved us to the North end of our district, had the truck moved then we barricaded the area. The original site I picked had been good if you were supplied but not if you needed to take supplies from the warehouses. We had access to three warehouses that stock the local grocery stores then. We went dark and quiet.”