Caleb awoke with a start as he felt the truck turning off the road. “Sorry, sir, I just want to drain my hose. I turned into the gas station out of habit.”
“Just pull right up to the station, Wetzel; I need to stretch my legs anyway.” Plus I can see if there’s any soda left inside, they might even be cold still, he thought happily. Then he felt the presence of the infected that were hiding inside the building. “I hope you don’t have to go inside, there’s infected in there. Go over there and bang on the door of that RV, that should be safe.” Wetzel looked at him like he was having his leg pulled, then remembered this was ‘the Lieutenant Z’ talking, there were more rumors about him than even the general.
Caleb walked to the window of the gas station and looked in. There was a small restaurant and convenience store inside. The glass door was heavily smudged with blood and numerous blood trails went in different directions from the doorway. He opened the door expecting the usual smells and was surprised when he could smell excrement and dead bodies, but the smell of bad food or spoiled milk was not one of them. He clicked his selector from ‘safe’ to ‘semi’ as he went further into the store. The presence of the others was strong but he couldn’t detect many. He grabbed a cart and began to push it with his left hand as he held his carbine with his right, gently resting the barrel on top of the cart for easy deployment if needed. The aisles were littered with opened bags of chips and assorted snack foods. He made his way to the back of the store where the refrigerated foods were. Lunch meats and foods wrapped in clear plastic had been cleared from the shelves. Milk and drinks that had been in bottles were also cleared from the shelves, the empties littering the floor. He smiled when he saw the canned beverages were untouched. He gave a quick scan before opening the glass door and sliding his arm down the shelves, watching the cans fall into the cart, and then grabbing the cases of soda from the lower shelves. Ten feet later he repeated the procedure with the cans of beer, then took the cases from the bottom of the shelves. Content, he decided to see what and who, was in the kitchen. The dining area had over a dozen bodies and some littered brass on the floor, which didn’t even set off any flags at this point. Leaving the cart in the dining area, he proceeded to the kitchen. The ceiling lights had been smashed and he had to take off his sunglasses. As his eyes adjusted to the dark he made out three figures in the corner, the feeling of fear was palpable. Three kids, the oldest maybe twelve were practically shaking as he came closer to them. He made a ‘coo’ sound a few times and they seemed less scared. The oldest one pointed to its mouth, and then made a sad ‘mew’ sound. These things have cleared out all the food except canned stuff. He went to a prep sink and turned the water on, all three rushed to get a drink. Caleb retreated back to the store until he gathered a small collection of canned meats and soups, all with pull tabs. Returning to the kitchen, he noticed they seemed sated for the moment. Tossing the cans in front of them, he then picked one up and made an exaggerated motion of pulling the tab and taking the top off a can of pineapples in juice, then he took a swig of the juice before pulling out a chunk of pineapple in the shape of a ring and sticking it in his mouth. All three watched him, smelling the delicious fragrance from the pineapple. He handed the smallest one the can and was surprised when she pulled out a ring of pineapple and handed the can to the next infected. When they were finished, they looked to Caleb for more. He pointed to the cans on the floor and mimed pulling the tabs. They sat and looked at him in confusion. Grabbing a can of beef stew, he noisily slammed it down on the floor in front of them, and then held it down and put his finger in the tab and pulled it only enough to crack the seal. The smell of beef and gravy were strong. Caleb stood back up and walked away. Either you guys figure it out or starve, he thought, walking towards his cart and pushing it out the door.
Caleb cursed when he opened the door and the sunlight felt like it was burning his retinas. Quickly sliding down the sunglasses, he noticed Wetzel was leaning against the truck eating a power bar.
“Hey Wetzel, you want a soda to wash that down? They were all out of bottled water.” Caleb said cheerfully.
“I thought you said there were infected inside the store, Sir?” Wetzel asked accusingly.
“Infected don’t bother me and if I can help it, I don’t bother them. If you want to go in there, help yourself. Just go quiet and use your bayonet, if you use your gun they will all come out and swarm you before you can reload. If there’s something you want from inside, let me know and I’ll go back inside.” Wetzel shook his head and was opening the driver’s door.
“Now wait, if there’s something in there you want just let me know and I’ll get it for you, just like if I asked you for something you’d help out. Wetzel slammed the door shut and faced Caleb, “Sir, I love nuts, but I know they’ll all be gone one day, so I might as well just resign myself to that fact now.”
“Standby, while I go back inside, you can throw that stuff in the back of the truck.” Caleb jogged back to the gas station and grabbed a basket then tossed it aside and grabbed a cart. The snack aisle had dozens of different nuts available in cans and he made a point to get everyone he could find. He was surprised to find bags of untouched peanuts and piled them on top of the cans. He found a heavy duty plastic cooler and threw it into the cart on his way back out. He dropped it by the freezer of ice near the rows of newspaper machines, and pushed the cart to the truck. Wetzel did a double take then a third look before looking around guiltily for any witnesses.
“It’s a new world we live in, wild and untamed, enjoy the little things while you can. Do we have a crowbar or something I can use to open the ice machine? I want to keep some soda cold for when we meet up with General Peter’s kids.” Invoking the general’s name made the act of larceny less troubling for Wetzel. He produced a huge tire iron, which brought a smile to Caleb’s face.
“Do you want first swing on the ice machine?” Caleb asked over his shoulder as he walked back towards the machine.
Wetzel looked around again, then ran to catch up to the officer. “Sure, I’ll take the first swing,” he said and took the tire iron, raising it above his head to smash it down, only to stop and stick part under padlock and pop it off as he decided there was a difference between ‘procuring supplies’ and wanton vandalism, making himself feel even better. Then he realized he, had in his opinion, disrespected the lieutenant by not saying ‘Sir.’ I guess it is a wild and untamed world we live in after all, he thought.
“When we get back from our mission, do you have a place to stash your nuts and your half of the soda and beer? It’s better if there are not a lot of questions asked.”
“Thanks, I didn't expect that. My two roommates are cool. They have the three of us in a doublewide, which is better than it sounds. The other two guys are my driver and gunner on a Guardian. We even have the Guardian parked out front of our place. It beats the hell out of the dorms.”
“Or where they stuck me, for some reason. My place is so small I have to go out in the hallway to change my opinions.”
“Word I heard was they wanted to stick all the Air Force aircrews together, then figured they’d fill the empty rooms with Air Force officers since the place was already ninety percent filled with Air Force already.”
“Looks to me, enlisted won this one for a change.” Caleb lamented.
“Are you kidding me? They put field grade officers in a nice apartment complex. That Army general wanted a small staff to maintain the place and our General Peters said not only no, but hell no. I was in line at the mobile dining facility with my guys and he walks up behind us and just stands in line like anyone else. That’s why I’m out here with you; we need to take care of the good ones like him.” Wetzel exclaimed happily.
“How much longer you figure till we get to his kids’ place?” Caleb asked while he climbed into the truck.
“Well, sir, if you take another nap, maybe an hour.” Caleb laughed, knowing he was playing CYA.
“Wake me when we get there, and
don’t play the radio too loud. There’s something spooky about that station.” He closed his eyes and thought about the young infected, I wonder if they’ll come out alright, will they figure out how to open the other cans of food?” Wetzel turned on the radio softly and Caleb felt himself chill as he heard the lyrics from the song’s refrain.
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind.
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Chapter 27
Surprise, Arizona, April 7, 2029
Gloria woke with a clear conscience. She’d delivered a huge load of medical supplies to the clinic, and she was all caught up with her administrative responsibilities. Now she had to get some breakfast in her and start marking houses to either be salvaged or torn down.
She went to stand in front of the mirror, above the sink, and laughed at her appearance. Good thing I’m not looking for a man! Girl, I’d scare them away. She then flashed back on the bastard who had felt her up and kissed her. I have the kiss of death. If you’re bored with your day job, just kiss old Grits, and you’ll be a Z for the rest of your days.
The hallway was clear as Gloria tried to make her escape to breakfast, and then get busy working to clear the houses. None of her people were in the dining room, so she went up to the serving line and took just a piece of fresh baked bread and jam, before getting a cup of black coffee. Sitting down at an empty table, she faced away from the door to improve her chances of not being seen. The first bite of the bread seemed to melt in her mouth. She slowed down to enjoy the bread and jam.
“Good morning, Grits, isn’t it just a wonderful day?” Standing behind her was Pastor Rebecca “Becky” Hilton. She had a cheerful smile that no one was allowed to have this early in the morning.
“What can I do for you this morning, Becky?” Gloria took a sip of her coffee and mentally braced herself for what was coming next.
“Your plan is to improve security by knocking down and bulldozing the houses into a wall around us. I really want to help by providing the manpower to help salvage the contents of the houses.”
“That’s wonderful Becky, just let your people know to look for a ‘S’ on the front door, that’s safe to salvage. An ‘X’ means the house is still occupied by infected and will be torn down. I might leave a few houses alone, those that have a pool or may have a use later, those will have an ‘O’ on the front door.”
“Wouldn’t it be safer to clear out the infected from the houses so they are not a danger later?” Becky asked, confused.
“In a perfect nightmare it would. But our limited military has so few actual combat trained professionals; well, I don’t want to lose a single life that can be avoided. If you have anyone that wants to volunteer to clear houses, and they aren’t nuts, let me know. I’m starting on the streets to the north of the school, and with that I’m off. As my daddy used to say, ‘No rest for the wicked,’ and my mommy made sure of it in his case.” Gloria rose and headed for the door while Becky sat and finished the last of her own coffee.
Gloria decided to walk the short distance to the nearest street that she’s already started on. She silently tried to weigh the pros and cons of clearing every house alone and decided she could bring herself to go house to house killing the infected families that were still in their houses, as she could not allow them to be a threat to her people.
A large sticker was affixed to the bottom left of the window next to the door. It consisted of a white field with a red border, with two blue stars in the center. Gloria cringed as she knocked on the door, hoping, praying there’d be no infected. She sighed with relief when she sensed no one inside. The front door was unlocked and opened easily, to a huge living room that was a depository of children’s toys, dirty clothes, and laundry baskets of clean clothes. Gloria felt like she was violating the privacy of the family that had lived there as she continued walking towards the kitchen, hand drawn pictures and photos covering the front of the refrigerator. She was surprised how clean and orderly the kitchen was compared to the living room. She didn’t see a coffee cup on the edge of the counter, accidentally knocking it to the floor. In the silent house it sounded like a gunshot to Gloria. It also awoke whoever was upstairs. Gloria felt the confusion of the other and headed for the stairs. She could sense it was an infected and didn’t want to upset it by calling out. On the stairs she began to smell not only the infected but the bodies of the dead. From the top of the stairs she could see four closed doors ahead of her. Lord, help me not to mess up, please, and not hurt any innocents either. She opened the first door on the left, inside was a pair of bunk beds and more toys and clothes scattered on the floor. Back in the hallway she saw bloody drag marks either to or from the next room. Unconsciously she pulled her 9 mil and flipped the safety off, while still pointed down at the floor. Opening the door with her left hand she gagged at the smell of bodies that had been dumped in the bath tub, she could see two small boys and a little girl, each had been shot in the head execution style, gray matter was leaking out everywhere she looked, she was unable to control herself and dropped to her knees to puke in the toilet. Getting back up, she saw the puddle of blood she’d knelt in, her uniform pants were saturated at the knees with blood, it was both slick and gelatinous to the touch. She saw her 9 mil in the same puddle and swore as she retrieved it. There was still some trapped water so she used the sink to rinse off the mess the best she could before returning it to her holster, not worried about any infected still in the house. She opened the next door and discovered it had been for the little girl. Everything in the room was either pink or tied to being a princess. The only thing out of place in the neat tidy room was the bloody pillow on the unmade bed. Gloria sighed heavily as she headed to the last door. Opening it slowly, she could sense the other that was still in there. The bed along the wall had an old man at least in his sixties; there was a small black hole in his skull just above his left ear, in his left hand he still held an old wheel gun in his hand. She saw movement come from the open closet door. Slowly she went to see who the last infected was. She glimpsed a tiny woman wearing only a slip that had originally been white. Now it was red with layers of fresh blood that had dripped over layers of dried blood. A portion of her skull was missing from where she’d been shot in the head. Gloria’s heart went out to the old woman who was so tiny and docile, just standing there in the closet, the rest of her family all dead. Gloria reached down and picked up the giant, ancient wheel gun from the bed and opened the cylinder, two shots still remained. Her eyes started to mist as she closed the cylinder, making sure the next shot would be a good one. She looked up as the tiny infected ran at her and then chomped down on her left wrist that she’d brought up automatically in self-defense. Gloria punched the woman as hard as she could while still holding the revolver. Her nose cracked from being hit by the trigger guard but even worse was damage administered when the barrel went in through her eye. When Gloria pulled back her hand, the barrel’s front sight was caught on the infected’s eye and pulled it out until it was hanging by only the optic nerve, Gloria jumped back in shock, ripping the optic nerve totally out until it was just dangling from the barrel. Gloria screamed and fired. The bullet missed and she quickly fired again, the second shot going into the ceiling. The hammer dropped twice more on empty cartridges.
The infected just stood there, looking at her with one eye, dazed. Gloria ran at the woman and used all she had to ram the barrel into the woman’s good eye, the barrel continued through the eye and optic nerve and made its way into her frontal lobe, Gloria let go of the grip and used the flat of her hand to push the revolver further in as it tore through the frontal lobe and into the motor cortex where it stopped. Gloria backed away as the woman stood facing her, one eye gone and the other eye socket obscenely filled by the pistol, part of the brain had been forced out the hole in the side of her head. The woman continued to stand for another minute, and then let out a soft breath and collapsed, her head hitting the side of the dresser with the corner catching inside the
hole, holding her up for a second before the skull cracked open even further, pulling at her brain as the rest of her fell to the floor.
Gloria woke on the floor of the bedroom. The first thing that came into view was part of a brain stuck on the corner of a dresser. She rolled over and tried to puke, but her stomach was empty. She forced herself to her feet and looked at the source of her throbbing pain. Her left wrist, where the harmless docile old infected had taken a gash out, was splayed open to tiny bones and muscles. She tried to make a fist and could only partly close her hand, and the pain in trying that almost caused her pass out again. Damn, I’m not doing that again. The door to the master bathroom was open and she stumbled on unsteady feet to the sink. She turned the water on and stuck her wrist under the running water, hoping to clear out any infection. I made it this far only to be infected by an eighty pound sexagenarian with a hole in her head. Gloria tore through the drawers of the bathroom until she found what she was looking for. The deep drawer was filled with everything one would want to have--if one were a hypochondriac. Gloria carefully looked through the drugs and sprays until she found a can of antibacterial spray. Quickly shaking the can, she sprayed the wound until it was saturated with the antibacterial spray, then took a package of gauze to wrap around the wound firmly, but not tight. Then she looked through the containers of partially filled prescriptions until she found a half bottle of amoxicillin. She grabbed a half dozen and washed them down with a handful of water. Gloria sat down on the toilet and pulled down the sleeve to cover the bandage. Perhaps I should just go back to my trailer, tell everyone to stay away, and in the morning, if I wake up with a worse infection, I’ll just pop myself. If I wake up as an infected, my people can pop me. I better sleep in the RV tonight, wouldn’t do to turn and go on a rampage, infecting all my troops.
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