Omega Pathogen: Despair

by J. G. Hicks Jr

  Later, most everyone gathered in the Yates’ home for dinner. They discussed the events of the day thus far, as well as the other group that Marlene had made contact with by the Ham radio. All were torn; on one hand they wanted to help as many people as possible, it seemed that not many of them were left. On the other hand, they had to shore up their defenses here if they wanted to continue to survive.

  Marlene interrupted the conversation when she informed the others that she hadn’t been able to make radio contact with the group in Spring Hill after the initial call. Those in the home grew silent, each immersed in their own thoughts until they heard gunshots.

  They were all used to hearing reports of gunfire at varying hours and locations around the farm. However, this was a barrage of twenty to thirty rounds and was followed by more. Linda called in over the radio, requesting help, but all those inside were already on their feet and grabbing weapons. “Arzu, why don’t you and Marlene secure the house and stay with the kids,” Rick said before he ran out the door.

  Since the catastrophic event when they had lost so many, security improvements had been made to the Yates’ home in the way of thick steel shutters and reinforcement of the doors. Arzu and Marlene did a headcount of the children and had them move to the living room while they set about securing windows and doors.

  As the others arrived at the gate to help Linda, they were astonished at the number of infected. To Linda’s credit, the ground was littered with fifteen or more bodies. But there were many more still upright or crawling and trying to climb the fence. Those behind were crushing the ones in front against the fence.

  With the amount gathered, the most pressing concern was the collapse of the fence. With the arrival of reinforcements from inside the house, the infected were quickly killed. One or two rounds to the head finished off many that had what should have been fatal injuries to the chest.

  Linda explained that a wave of infected appeared from the tree line across the street. As she shot at the first group, the others came in a second wave.

  They all suspected that the likely reason for the infected to concentrate near the gate was due to the close proximity of the house and activity around it. This put reinforcement and shielding that area from view even higher on their priority list. Royce suggested cutting back or pushing over trees outside the fence to give a better field of view. They could also use much of the wood for heating, cooking, and even building. Another project that was placed on the full list of high priorities.

  Royce, Rick, Steve and Kathy dragged the corpses out of the way of the gate and driveway for when the MRAP and semi made it back. They corpses would be collected and taken to the pit tomorrow with others that were sure to be added to the count.

  Marlene continued to diligently monitor the Ham and other radios. She rarely took a break and they were usually short. Marlene even ate most of her meals at the small desk where the base station sat. She heard from a few other groups scattered throughout the United States and Canada. She had heard from a person in Mexico but like the group in Spring Hill, Florida, she had been unable to regain contact with them again.

  Arzu waited at the gate with Linda. Both hoped the MRAP would soon be back. As Arzu and Linda had a pause in their conversation they both turned toward the north at the sound of vehicles approaching. A radio call to the gate confirmed it was them. Linda had acknowledged the call calmly but both she and Arzu were excited and relieved to see them return.

  Arzu and Linda checked and rechecked the area for infected that could have wandered into the vicinity of the gate. Some slow moving infected in ones, twos, and small groups were in the area but as yet weren’t close enough to the gate to present a problem.

  The engine noise grew louder and then the two vehicles came into view. Linda and Arzu opened the gate as the semi and MRAP grew closer and then hurried to close it as the trucks passed through.

  The MRAP and tractor-trailer pulled in and came to a stop. Arzu left to greet them while Linda stayed at her post the gate. Jim met Arzu as she approached and they hugged and kissed. Arzu quickly hugged and kissed Chris and Jeremy on their cheeks. “Hurry up and go see your mom,” she said.

  The two young men made their way to the gate. Arzu noticed Jeremy had a slight limp as he made his way to his mother, but it improved the more he walked. Jim briefly explained Jeremy’s fall from the truck at the base and that he’d keep an eye on him. Jim introduced George to Arzu and she welcomed him to the farm.

  Not long after their mother greeted them, Chelsea arrived at the gate and hugged Chris, Jeremy, and then Jim. Chris received another embrace that was much longer and included a long kiss.

  “We’ll unload and store the arms and tactical gear tomorrow, get some rest. You guys did a great job today,” Jim said to Chris and Jeremy.

  Jim and Arzu brought George to the Yates’ home for introductions. Jim was greeted with hugs from Berk and Kayra. Kayra and her father exchanged kisses on the cheek. “You need to shave,” Kayra said as she rubbed his facial stubble with her palms. Berk as usual didn’t give a kiss and wiped away the one given to him on his cheek.

  After the introductions, the questions to George came in rapid succession as he ate. Jen intervened and suggested they let George finish eating and get settled in first. And then if he was up to it, he could answer questions.

  Rick reminded everyone that dusk was approaching and they needed to add extra people to their security patrol as they normally did at night. Jim pulled Rick aside and they spoke as they walked out to the MRAP. He gave him some of the M4s equipped with the ATPIAL system. He also gave Rick some of the NVGs and a quick lesson on their use in conjunction with the laser system. Rick would pass along the information to those issued the weapons.

  “You’re not going to do security tonight, are you, honey?” Arzu asked as she approached the two men.

  “Not tonight. It’s a shower, chow and then some rest for me,” Jim replied as he ran his palms across his tired eyes.

  “I’ll see you in the morning, Jim,” Rick said, and left with the new rifles.

  Jim and Arzu returned to the Yates’ home so Jim could get something to eat.

  Chapter 21

  The activity on the Yates’ farm grew with the sun’s position in the morning sky. Shortly after breakfast, most of the residents gathered around the tractor-trailer and MRAP. Rick had worked a longer shift on guard duty the previous night but was still up early.

  The first topic of conversation was where the weapons would be stored. Behind Jen’s home there was an unoccupied metal shipping container that they decided would be converted into their armory.

  Also behind the Yates’ family home, some had taken up residence in the accommodations that were left unoccupied after the infiltration and attack of the compound by infected.

  Jim and Arzu lived in a small travel trailer with Berk and Kayra. It had a queen bed Jim and Arzu shared and a twin foldout where Berk and Kayra slept.

  Linda, Kathy, and Jeremy shared a storage container, one of three that the residents had recovered from behind some large stores. The container had been converted to a three-bedroom accommodation.

  Chris and Chelsea shared another container, the smallest.

  Royce slept in the semi tow truck by himself. The Kenworth was equipped with a large sleeper.

  Everyone else slept inside Jen Yates’ home. Modifications were underway to the home to make living and sleeping arrangements as comfortable as possible. The orphaned children that were looked after by all the residents of the farm slept in bunk beds that had been scavenged from furniture stores.

  All but a few of the firearms, optics, and munitions they had recovered from Camp Blanding were still in crates and sealed shut. The crates that were still sealed were offloaded into the container turned armory. The open crates, Jim decided, would be stored in the MRAP. The armory was padlocked and copies of the key were made from a machine they had scavenged.

  Shortly after the outbreak, GPS functions of phones
and other civilian devices had been very unreliable. Chris and Jeremy mentioned that the one in the Army semi tractor they brought back had proven accurate during the journey. They planned on collecting more on their upcoming mission back to the base.

  The next topic was the Hescos barriers that had been recovered from the military base. Rick and Jim began to count and measure the barriers stacked on the trailer.

  Arzu checked the cab of the truck and returned with several pieces of paper. She flipped through the pages and asked Jim and Rick not to worry about counting but to confirm the sizes of a couple of the Hescos that lay folded and stacked on the trailer.

  “I found the manifest,” Arzu said. She looked over the paperwork and explained to the others that there should be two hundred Hescos on the trailer. The documentation listed the sizes at nine feet high, three and a half feet wide, and a length of ten feet and five inches.

  Arzu took out a pencil from behind her right ear and hastily scribbled on her notepad as she bit her bottom lip. She finished her calculations and smiled. “If the other trailers have the same size and amount as this one, we’ll have enough of them to double stack them and make a wall of eighteen feet high. We may even have some left over,” Arzu said. Jim removed his cap and rubbed his head. “Let’s get this trailer unhooked and get ready and get some more,” Jim said as he put his cap back on.

  Despite all the hard work on making the molds and gathering and mixing concrete, they were thrilled to have the gift that they had found. The preformed Hescos could be put up many times faster than they could make large concrete blocks and stack them.

  Rick and Steve started disconnecting the trailer. As they worked they took part in the discussion and planning for the trip back to Camp Blanding. The discussion was short and the decision made quickly. They would bring the MRAP and the semi they just disconnected, they knew it had worked. Jim and Rick would go along with Chris, Kathy, Steve, Rob, and Royce. Seven would make the trip so six of those could drive the tractor-trailers while the seventh drove the MRAP on their return trip.

  Of the group to make the second trip to Camp Blanding, Jim was the least experienced in driving the tractor-trailers they would be trying to bring back. He knew he’d be driving the MRAP.

  Jeremy objected to not being included. Jim pointed out that he had seen him and could tell his back was still bothering him.

  “It’s probably going to be fine but if you aggravate it you could be immobile,” Jim said and squeezed Jeremy’s shoulder.

  Jeremy understood the decision. He knew it made sense. His disappointment was brief; he knew plenty needed to be done there on the Yates’ farm. He could help Arzu and Jen on the planning for placement and erecting the barriers and help with security.

  Preparations started for the trip. Extra containers of diesel were strapped to the sides of the MRAP and to the semi to make filling any of the tractors' tanks quicker.

  With everything packed they thought they might need, they quickly said their goodbyes and left again for Camp Blanding. Royce drove the semi with Steve riding along. Chris led the way in the MRAP with his father and the rest of their group.

  It was after 1:00 PM when they finally left. Everyone hoped they could be back before dark, but knew it was doubtful. It would take them over an hour to get there and then whatever time necessary to get six more semi tractors fueled , running, and hooked to trailers. Then the time for the drive back.

  Those that remained on at the Yates’ compound watched the small convoy leave until the vehicles went out of sight behind the trees. Those left on the farm then went about their daily tasks, the work required to keep them all alive.

  Chapter 22

  A light shower that began as they pulled through the gates of Camp Blanding preceded the cold front that had been moving south on an intercepting course with them. On their drive north they had to almost constantly avoid infected.

  The base was worse than the day before. They drove for the parking area with the remaining trailers loaded with the barriers they needed. They maneuvered the trucks to try and avoid the infected as best they could. The MRAP and the semi-tractor hit still many of the slow walkers.

  They finally reached the lot after dodging infected and came to a halt. Jim, Chris, Steve and Rick provided protection while Rob, Kathy, and Royce worked. They checked over and connected the semi tractors to trailers.

  “Shit,” Kathy yelled out.

  Jim turned in the direction of his sister, ready to help protect her, but saw she was frustrated as she and Royce worked on the engine of one of the tractors.

  The gunfire was steady, a few shots every minute or two by those doing security until Steve yelled out, “Runners!”

  They hadn’t noticed that the sky had darkened so much. Steve had quickly gone through a thirty round magazine and was reloading when Rick and Chris made it to his side of the lot.

  Jim started to go in that direction to help, but saw several infected running toward his side. “Royce, Kathy. Let’s go!” Jim shouted and replaced a spent magazine.

  “It’s fixed. Just hooking the last one,” Kathy yelled in reply.

  Royce jumped in the cab he, Kathy, and had been working on and started up the engine. He jammed it into gear, spun the tires as he sped backward and slammed into the King Pin so hard the trailer slid back several feet.

  Rob ran over and hooked up the air system and then headed to the tractor-trailer he would drive.

  The infected started coming in waves, their numbers increasing as each wave was shot down.

  “Everyone load up, now!” Jim yelled over the radio. He scanned the lot and watched as each made their way to the cab of a semi.

  Relieved to see Kathy and Chris get in safely, Jim ran to the MRAP and used the rapid firing M249 machine gun to try and thin out the infected.

  The runners trampled the slower infected. Some stayed down and kept crawling forward. Others got back up to be knocked down again. Never did they just stop. They all wanted a bite.

  Once he had received a call from the others in the group, Jim hopped down from the turret and got the MRAP moving toward their exit. He glanced at his watch quickly, 4:00 PM. It’s only gonna get worse, he thought.

  The group had talked about it before, avoid going too fast, if they hit a large group of infected it could easily cause loss of control even in the heavy vehicle. Even hitting just one at high speed could cause problems. One of the last things anyone wanted was to crash and be stuck in the cab, surrounded by infected.

  As they made their way to the base’s gates, Jim called over the radio and asked for another head count starting from the first vehicle behind his. Rob called out first. Kathy was next, followed by Rick and then Royce. Chris called in from the fifth semi out of the six they should have. Jim tried to remember the other man’s name that had come with them but before he could Rick called for Steve over the radio. Chris called in and said that he could see Steve’s semi behind his. After the third call from Rick, Steve finally responded that he was okay.

  Steve tried to watch the road ahead, avoid the infected that darted out between the front of his truck and the back of Chris’ in front of him. It was a difficult task to do with one hand and only partially using his right leg while he tried to determine the source of the pain that burned through his right calf.

  He didn’t see the infected bite him. He didn’t recall feeling it as he scrambled to get in the semi. He had felt several hands grabbing at his legs and at his back but he was sure he had gotten in okay. He had turned and kicked the closest two infected away and slammed the door.

  When he was in the CCTV shop, he felt that bite and the old guy didn’t even have teeth. No, he couldn’t have been bitten. Steve reached down with his left hand and pulled up his pant leg again. He felt his leg, it felt wet but that was probably just from the rain. He was pretty much wet all over from the rain shower that had started. He could hardly feel any pain now. That had to be a good thing.

  Steve pulled his hand a
way and moved it closer to the light from the dashboard. There it was. The blood. It wasn’t a lot of blood. Maybe he had scratched it on something when he got in the cab. It couldn’t have been a bite. He didn’t feel the teeth enter his flesh.

  The road cleared as they continued. They had made their way through another small town called Bronson and had about twenty miles before they would be at the farm. After getting away from the base, they made better time than most of them had thought.

  Chris fumbled around as he reached for his CamelBak tube for some water when he felt the impact of Steve’s semi ram into his trailer, causing his rig to jolt forward. Chris let go of the water tube and grabbed the wheel with both hands to maintain control.

  “Steve, what the hell are you doing?” Chris called over the radio. In the side mirrors Chris could see the headlights of Steve’s truck swerving back and forth. Chris called for Steve on the radio again but like before received no reply.

  “What’s wrong, Chris?” Jim asked.

  “Not sure. Steve must be having some problems. He’s all over the road,” Chris answered. As he finished speaking, Steve’s semi veered to the left and began to overtake Chris’. It kept swerving and careened off of Chris’ trailer three times as it sped by him.

  “Everybody watch out. Steve’s truck is out of control,” Chris called over the radio.

  Rick watched the truck approach his. It angled into the median. The truck veered back to the right again then back to the left into the grass median strip. Dirt and grass and weeds were uprooted and thrown up by the tractor-trailer as it barreled through the median, jackknifed and flipped onto its driver's side.

  All the remaining trucks slammed on their brakes and came to a halt past the wrecked truck.

  Rick was the closest and he jumped from his cab and ran to check on Steve.