by Allen Gamboa
“What are you talking Cruz?”
“Your take?” The Colonel mulled it over. “Five thousand extra a month. There will be more in rations too. I’m thinking about dipping into human trafficking too. Out here it would be big. How does that sound?”
“Sounds Good.” Morgan smiled. “The Captain in on it?”
“Uh huh.” Cruz nodded. “He’s less expensive than you but he also took a little less convincing. Uribe, Finn, Speedy and Banjo are all my guys. I sent that screw up Berry with them to keep Hale distracted. I didn’t want your pal looking too closely at what was really going on. We have a deal Major?”
“How about the grenades that went missing?”
“Well,” The chair let out a squeak as Cruz leaned backward. “I have an agreement with some of the border gangs. They love those grenades.”
“Ammo too?”
“A little, I’ll cut you in on that too.” The Colonel grinned. “So?”
“We have a deal.” Morgan stuck out his hand. “Five sounds just right.”
“Perfect.” Cruz shook the Major’s hand. Morgan quickly grabbed Cruz by the wrist and jerked him face first into the desk top. Cruz tried to pull himself up but Morgan smashed him in the back of his head with his elbow. The Colonel groaned as his nose exploded all over the desk
“You are a piece of shit Cruz!” Morgan continued to press his face down. “Selling us all out and the men and women that serve under you…. unforgivable! Capitalizing on the collapse! Selling off our ammo! Human trafficking! I can't stand greedy fucks like you! You’re no better than Bob the Butcher!”
“Look, I'll cut you in for fifty!” He mumbled into the desk top.
“Too late!” Morgan pulled his tactical knife and jammed it into the back of Cruz’s neck pinning him to the desk. As blood spritzed the wall besides him, the crooked Colonel let out a gurgle and began to choke on his own blood. Morgan released the soon to be dead man’s hand and stood up, wiping Cruz’s blood off his face. The colonel swiped his hands across the desk in a vain attempt to free himself. Morgan heard movement from behind and quickly spun around to see Booker standing in the doorway, mouth agape.
“What the fuck?”
“The Colonel told me everything Booker.” Morgan pointed the pistol at him. “You got anything to add?”
“Morgan, it was all him…I swear.” The Captain said holding his hands open in front of him. “I swear!”
“Well, I guess since you swear it, it must be true.” Morgan swiftly reached over and grabbed Booker’s holstered his gun. “I am reliving you of command Captain.”
“You can’t do this! You killed the Colonel!” Booker said still flustered at the whole situation. “You can’t do this!”
“I can and if you want to join the Colonel, keep talking.” Booker started to say something but stopped. “Good, now hands behind your head.”
“What are you going to do to me?” Booker asked as he placed his hands behind his head.
“Turn you into the military. These days I hear it’s open season on drug traffickers.”
“They’ll kill me Morgan.” Booker pleaded. “Come on man, that’s a death offense.”
“Maybe.” The Major jabbed his pistol hard into Booker’s back. “You can die right now or take a chance with a military court. Up to you.”
“Ok…ok.” Booker nodded.
“Good. I’m going to lock you up until we get a chance to drop you off with an Army unit.” Morgan shoved him forward. “Let’s move!” Booker just groaned defeated as they walked out of the office leaving the Colonel dying and pinned to his desk like some ghoulish 220lb paperweight.
CHAPTER 52: IN THE BARREL…AGAIN
Nitrex Plant
“What do we do now?” Cross asked as she scanned the laboratory for any threats, while holding a machete in her right hand and a tepid half empty water bottle in the other. Hale knelt beside the junior sergeant dressing the unconscious chemist tomahawk wound. Both contractors were completely out of ammunition and now only had their bladed weapons to defend themselves.
“We find the others and get the hell out of here.” Hale said as he finished with the bandage and shook the disheveled chemist awake. “Wakey, wakey!”
“Uh….” Mallini moaned as he came too and instinctively reached for his bandaged shoulder.
“Hurts worse than it looks.” The big sergeant said glancing up at Cross. “Your headset work?”
“No,” The red head slipped the black blood stained commo gear from around her neck and dropped it to the ground. “Think I might have damaged it in the fight. Yours?”
“Toast.” Hale said pulling off his gore encrusted headset.
“Who the hell are you people?” The chemist asked as he slowly sat up. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“That’s up to you.” Hale stood up and pulled a warm water bottle out of his vest. “We can just leave you here with the deaders. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“Wait…” Mallini held out a hand. “Just wait a second. Let’s not be so hasty.”
“Hurry up mister wizard.” Cross ran a hand through her hair and found the remnants of a Deader nose, frowning in disgust, she flung it against a wall with a sick thunk. “Oh, that is nasty.”
“Who are you?” Mallini asked again, his stomach rolling as he watched the remains slowly slide down the wall.
“We belong to Strategic Securities, we’re a private security group. We were supposed to pick up a load of medical supplies for zone two.”
“Medical supplies?” Mallini chuckled and gave them a wink. “Sure, if you can find anything. Those assholes robbed us blind. They came in behind a herd of dead. Took out our security. Pretty fucking smart.”
“Looks like it’s our turn in the barrel again.” Cross said referencing one of Morgan’s old jokes.
“Where’s the rest of your people?” Hale asked.
“Dead.” Mallini said looking down at the floor.
“Alright.” Hale extended a hand to help the chemist to his feet.
“Don’t fuck around with us!” Cross said wiping her machete blade on a discarded lab coat she’d grabbed off a table.
“No, no problems from me.” Mallini said as he quickly pulled his dirty hair into a man bun.
“Delightful.” Cross said shaking her head.
There was a loud thumping sound from the far corner of the room. All three of them turned to see the air vent cover in the wall start to vibrate. Cross dropped the lab coat and readied her blade for attack. Hale drew his tomahawks as the aluminum cover flew off the wall and crashed to the floor.
“Quiet.” Someone said from inside the air duct.
“It’s a lil too late for that.” Doc said as he poked his head out of the opening. “Well howdy Sarge, Red.” The medic gave Cross a quick wink. “We’re here to save you!”
CHAPTER 53: SIX IS A CROWD
On the Road
“So, inside those cases are a cure to this whole mess?” Washington asked from the passenger's seat of the SUV. Cho and Kate were in the middle seat while Franco and Kantner sat in the back. The Ranger sergeant had two of the metal containers at her feet while she held the third one firmly on her lap.
“That’s what we were told.” Cho nodded and was little more comfortable in the two soldiers company. “We lost a lot of men protecting this.”
“That’s a damn shame.” Washington glanced over at Jefferson, who was behind the wheel of the big SUV. The Marine gave him a quick sideways look then returned his stare to the darkened roadway ahead of them. “Me and Jefferson were just looking for another unit to hook up with. It’s just dumb luck we ran into you.”
“Can we take you where you need to go?” Kate asked.
“Can this piece of shit fly?” Kanter, annoyed at being forced to crash land, said from the back seat.
“Hey, I can dump your ass out on the road if you’d like.” Jefferson told him. “We are up to help but I’m not in for you bullshit!”
&nbs
p; “Sorry.” Cho gave the pilot a dirty look. “We appreciate you picking us up. I think Mister Kanter means that our designated transfer point is out of range of this vehicle.”
“No problem sergeant. Wash and I can take you as far as we can. You have any communication with your command or anything?”
“No,” The Ranger glanced down at the case in her lap. “We lost comms when we crashed.”
“They weren’t the most reliable as it was.” Franco groaned as he tried to get comfortable next to the pilot. He’d had some morphine earlier but the pain was starting to creep back.
“Our Command was compromised.”
“That true?” Washington asked the sergeant.
“Yes, we have a leak inside. They lured us to an airfield then attacked us. We were lucky to get airborne after that.” Cho told him.
“Lucky?” Kantner chuckled.
“You’re still alive, aren’t you?” Franco slapped the pilot lightly in the back of the head.
“Lucky.”
“Why would they send folks after you?” Washington asked.
“An anti-virus would be worth a lot to the wrong people.” Kate said with concern.
“Exactly.” Cho nodded. “A private group could manufacture it and ransom it for whatever they wanted.”
“Man,” Jefferson shook his head. “They could actually kill off whole countries by refusing them the cure.”
“That’s some evil shit.” Washington said.
“Sergeant Cho, how long you been a Ranger?” Jefferson asked as he watched the soldier in his rearview mirror.
“I’m not really a Ranger, Corporal,” She said quietly. “I’m a transportation sergeant.”
“Nah!” Franco shouted from the back seat. “Sergeant there is a Ranger! Don’t let her tell you anything different Marine. Our Ranger Company jumped into the Capital to rescue the Governor and some other government dirt bags. We were able to evac most of them but we lost our transport in the process. On the ground, we were fighting deadheads for every square foot of road. It was a straight up fucking nightmare. Our boots were drenched in blood. Theirs and ours.” The Ranger stopped to take a breath, the morphine was wearing off and his wounds were really starting to hurt again. “Sergeant Cho here and her transportation company responded to our repeated radio calls for help and gave us a lift out of that hell. It’s been nine months and she’s been kicking ass ever since. Saved my bacon more than a few times. Girl can shoot!” Cho glanced down at the floor a little embarrassed at the other soldier’s praise. “Fearless and loyal as a fucking German Shepard. Captain Testa made her a Ranger and as far as I’m concerned she has more than earned it.”
“I’ll get you to a military outpost.” The Marine told her, a little more respect in his voice.
“We can figure it out there.”
“If you could get us to Area 51 that would be better. I really don’t know who to trust.” Cho told him.
“Nevada?” Washington slid back down in his seat. “That’s at least five hundred miles away. Maybe they can send one of those alien space ships they’re hoarding to come get us?”
“Well Sergeant Cho,” Jefferson glanced into the rearview mirror and smiled. “You can trust us. Kate, you don’t mind a drive to the desert, do you?”
“No,” Kate shook her head and smiled sadly. “Not at all. Not like I’ve got anywhere else to be. My husband always told me they were working on alien technology out there. Guess now we’ll find out.”
“Thanks Corporal.” Cho relaxed. “It’s hard to know who to trust with this. Our whole unit was wiped out back at Baker Airfield. Men and women who we served with since the beginning of this. Family…” Her voice trailed off.
“Sergeant, Jefferson and I were at Baker.” Washington told her. “We were both up in a guard tower when those mercenaries attacked. Almost died there too. Jefferson was wondering what the hell you Rangers were loading up on that plane.” Washington turned to the Marine and whispered. “My Mama’s stinky panties….”
“Sergeant Cho,” Jefferson cut him off before he could blather on about their earlier inane conversation. “Washington and I have served together in a multi-service unit since the start of the outbreak. Firefighter Denning and her company were working out in a dead zone giving aid to those that needed it until they were overrun. You can trust us. We all want to make this damn mess better. Turn things back to how they used to be.”
“That sounds wonderful.” Kantner said sarcastically from the back seat. “You two can blow each other later. Right now, we have company!”
“Shit.” Jefferson said glancing in the rearview. Two sets of headlights were quickly approaching. “Hold on!”
CHAPTER 54: DON’T EXPECT A BLOW JOB
Nitrex Plant
“No sign of the LT or Finn?” Hale asked the wiry medic.
“No, just Speedy and when he’s not over there crying he’ll tell you Uribe and Finn were gobbled up by the deaders.” Doc motioned to the contractor who sat with his back to a cage, sobbing into his hands. Hale let out a breath and shook his head.
“You have any spare ammo? Cross and I went black in the hallway.” The big sergeant rested a gloved hand on one of his dirty tomahawks.
“You two look like my last prom dates.” Doc grinned as he handed Hale a couple of magazines from his battle rig. “You smell better too.”
“Don’t expect a blow job for these.” The sergeant said to Doc as he handed one of the magazines to Cross.
“Naw, you look like you’d be all teeth Sarge.” Doc chuckled. “What’s the game plan?”
“Well, since the Lieutenant is KIA, I think its best we head back to the vehicles and return to Camp FedEx. Anyone disagree?”
“Sounds copacetic.” Cross said using a piece of the discarded lab coat to clean the dried blood and flesh off her rifle.
“Copacetic? What the fuck does that even mean?” Vannelli asked.
“Heard it in a war movie.” Cross shrugged. “Always wanted to use it.”
“I’m in.” Doc said checking his rifle. “I was getting bored of this place.”
“Let’s get goin’ Sarge, starting to smell like Vannelli’s bedroom in here.” Duley grabbed Speedy by the harness and pulled him to his feet. “Time to split Speed. Take my pistol.” He handed the shaken contractor his side arm.
“Thanks, Duley.” Speedy nodded as he shoved the weapon into his empty chest holster. “Sergeant Hale, the Lieutenant and Finn were both killed downstairs. A pack of those pus bags ripped them apart. There’s no way they could have survived it. Hell, I barely made it out.”
“We know that Speedy. Do you think they turned?” Hale asked the medic.
“Maybe,” Doc nodded.
“Regardless, we gotta be sure.”
“Look.“Speedy told him. “I saw them go down but I’m not sure if they were completely devoured.”
“Aw, fuck. LT had the satphone with him.” Vannelli shook his head and turned away. Hale glanced around at the other three soldiers. They all looked at the big sergeant and slowly nodded.
“No one left behind.” Cross jammed the fresh magazine into her rifle and tossed the dirty cloth on the ground. “LT might have been a dipshit but he was one of us. If he’s out there shambling around with Finn, we owe them some peace. I’d hope you all would do the same for me.” Cross gave the speech mostly for Speedy’s benefit.
“Well said Sergeant Cross.” Hale wiped some sweat from his grimy forehead. “Speedy saw them get wasted downstairs so we’ll go there and make sure. And we need to get that satphone.”
“Sarge,” Speedy pleaded. “They’re dead. I saw those things get them. There’s no way they could be walking around.”
“Doc, you want point?” Hale asked the medic, ignoring Speedy. They still needed the satphone.
“Always.” Doc pushed past Speedy and stopped in front of the double doors waving in Duley besides him. “Once more into the breach.”
“You just know the LT is still out ther
e wandering around, Doc, those meat sacks probably took a bite of him and threw up.” Duley slapped the medic on the shoulder. “I get bit I want you to be the one to put me down.”
“Gee, thanks Duley.” Doc flipped him off. “I get bitten just let me turn. I want to see what it’s like on the other side.”
“Doc you are deeply disturbed.”
“Am I?” Doc asked sarcastically. “You’re the one that wants me to shoot him in the head. That’s just what I need, another death on my hands.”
“What about me?” Vannelli asked.
“Don’t worry Vannelli,” Cross smiled a little too broadly. “I got your back.”
“Make sure that I’m bit Cross.” Vannelli said with more than a little concern in his voice.
“What the hell is wrong with you people?” The chemist, Mallini, asked glancing around in disbelief at the soldiers.
“We’ll do you too Doctor. Don't worry.” The medic grinned patting the man on the shoulder. “You ready Sarge?”
“Yeah.” Hale grabbed Mallini by the lab coat and Speedy by the harness. “Let’s move. Hopefully Cherry Berry hasn't let anyone steal our wheels.”
CHAPTER 55: BAD GUYS ON WHEELS
On the Road…
“Nix, run them off the road!” Dolan shouted to the driver of their SUV. The big bearded mercenary nodded and stepped on the gas pedal. The black Ford Explorer shot ahead and using a P.I.T. maneuver smashed into the side of the Tahoe. The big vehicle swerved but continued straight ahead. Nix tried to do it again but the remains of a station wagon blocked part of the road and caused him to slow down and pull in behind the fleeing vehicle. The Tahoe took advantage of this and sped farther ahead.
“Nix! What the fook?” Dolan growled.
“Fucking car in the way!” Nix glanced over at his boss. “You want to drive? There’s a lot of shit in the road!” As if in an answer to Nix’s question the speeding lead vehicle swerved exposing another wrecked car. Nix quickly turned the wheel and the Explorer just squeezed past it, metal scraping their doors.