“Somebody needs to smack them around some.” Drew said indicating the shrill voice of the lady currently asking the SEAL at the foot of their ladder why she had to share a bunk with her children. Drew was sitting on the side of their assigned bunk with his legs dangling out over thirty feet of nothing. They’d managed to win the prize for being handed the highest possible bunk in the place. Yue was still annoyed she was being made to sleep with her brothers. There were completely empty bunks scattered all around them. She was happy she’d kept her mouth shut now as she witnessed how unappreciative the lady below looked.
“You notice her husband isn’t in his face. That SEAL would mop the floor with him.” LeBron said scooting over to look down over the edge.
“Pretty manly to be letting his wife go down there and do all the yelling.” Yue commented.
“We’ve got a group of rich people from an isolated island. We’ve got a base run by a bunch of muscle heads who haven’t had the pleasure of fighting the crawlerz yet. We’re combining them all in a musty smelling room with bunk beds out of a Harry Potter movie.” LeBron responded to her.
“What’s your point dude?” Drew asked.
“I really don’t know. Just how messed up this whole situation is, I guess. That woman’s being an idiot but at least she’s being allowed to be an idiot. I’d hate this whole mess a lot more if that guy just reached out and threw her on the ground or something. I love that there’s at least a semblance of civilization here.” LeBron said. They watched as the woman continued to complain about everything possible. The SEAL remained unflappable while she asked him loudly how he liked living in a building that smelled like a giant used urinal cake.
“That’s actually pretty dead on as far as how this place smells.” Drew noted. Neither Yue nor LeBron could disagree with him on that point. No matter how good the filtration system was in here it was still humid as hell.
“Why does Jeff get his own bunk? I guess I should’ve pissed off the President. Could’ve gotten some space to spread out at least.” LeBron said looking across the room to a bottom bunk near the door. It was one of the enclosed bunks. The SEALs had decided it could be used as a temporary holding cell since there was only one way in or out of it.
“It’s got to suck trying to sleep while you’re tie wrapped to a post or whatever though.” Drew said.
“At least he doesn’t have to worry about waking up spooning his sister.” LeBron joked.
“He totally wishes he could wake up spooning her!” Drew barked out laughing. Yue considered kicking him off the bunk but wasn’t sure he’d survive the thirty-foot fall. If they’d been like two bunks further down the stack, she totally would’ve done it.
“You’re both idiots.” Yue said putting her head back on the thin military issue pillow she’d dragged up the thirty feet of ladder to their bunk.
“Well, what do we do now?” LeBron asked.
“We sit up here and relax. Maybe find out if they have some PlayStations or something. Take advantage of being surrounded by a gigantic dam guarded by trained men with automatic weapons. See if we can’t find some single females with a different last name than ours. That’d make this place pretty much perfect. I love the fact that these guys haven’t even seen any crawlerz yet.” Drew answered.
“What about Jeff?” Yue asked. She tried to ask it casually to dodge any additional teasing. The teasing ended up being avoided more by the way the words caught in her throat. Both of her brothers knew she was worried about her boyfriend. Drew liked Jeff as well and LeBron was willing to trust their opinion. He hadn’t known Jeff as long but from what he’d seen of him he was a stand-up guy. You just couldn’t trust him to drive a boat.
“We’re not going to let anything happen to him. These SEALs seem like pretty solid dudes too. I don’t see them doing anything too stupid just because some politician orders them too.” Drew said attempting to make Yue feel better.
“Except when the President ordered them to let like thirty-armed people on their base who might be leading the infected right to them. They let us pull on in and deposit a bunch of unappreciative mouths to feed. If that wasn’t stupid enough, then they immediately arrest Jeff right in front of us. Seems like these guys love following orders regardless of the consequences.” LeBron said. His analytical mind finally caught up a few seconds of awkward silence later with the possibility that Drew had just been blowing smoke to try and make Yue feel better.
“Nice going man. You get first watch. Let us know if Jeff gets moved out of his private suite.” Drew said over his shoulder while trying to figure out what he could say to make Yue feel better. He found himself once again in a position where someone needed him, and he had absolutely no idea what to say. He refused to just start trying to talk to her. He knew something asinine would fly right out of his mouth and boomerang around to smack him in the face. If he opened his mouth his lungs would expel air which would cause words to ooze out without any intervention from his brain whatsoever. That was what he was trying to avoid when LeBron poked him in the shoulder. Annoyed he turned around to see what he wanted.
“They’re taking him somewhere.” LeBron said pointing down to where Jeff was being perp walked out of his enclosed bunk towards a door on the far end of the powerhouse.
Chapter 6: Happy Trails
Yue checked to make sure her weapons were strapped on and rolled over to the top of the ladder. Both her brothers scurried after her. The three of them walked through the crowded floor space towards the door that Jeff had been marched out of. Along the way they collected Mikey and a couple of the other Marines. Yue threw the door open leading outside. The heavily armed group walked out into the concrete garden separating the powerhouse from the maintenance tunnels fully intent on causing some havoc.
Jeff was being taken to the side where a trail wound up towards the top of the dam. He didn’t appear to be in any particular distress. He might have just been taking a stroll with the camouflage covered goons if it weren’t for having his hands secured behind him.
“Hey dirtbags! Stop right there!” Yue yelled loudly. She hated yelling outside, but it was necessary to be heard over the noise generated by the dam. The two men escorting Jeff turned around to see what she wanted. Yue and the rest of them quickly caught up to Jeff and his escort.
“We’re just taking him up to the communications building. They’re setting up his call with the President. We actually need to hurry.” One of the men said. He didn’t seem stressed by the armed band of misfits staring him down. He did seem like he was worried about being on time for the call. Once again Yue marveled at how fixated the military was on timeliness. Jeff smiled at her.
“It’s ok. They’re just taking me up to talk. You guys can head back into the powerhouse if you want. I should’ve had them tell you where they were taking me. Didn’t mean to freak you out.” Jeff said. Yue stared at him to see if he really meant it or not. Jeff was possibly the world’s worst poker player. Yue read his face and forced herself not to start shooting right then and there. By the look in his eyes Jeff thought there was a good chance he was being taken into the woods to be executed. It made more sense than them taking him up to some secret bat cave to talk to the man who’d left them all to die back on the carrier.
“Yeah, so we’re going to come with you.” Yue said. She glared at one of the guards who didn’t seem to care one way or the other. He just wanted to drag this tall goofy looking dude up the damned trail and be done with it.
“Cool but you may have to wait outside the door. I don’t know if the captain’s going to want everybody hanging out in the room for the call.” The guard responded. He turned around and started hiking back up the trail without waiting to see if they followed or not.
“Do these guys even know how dangerous this is? They’re basically doing everything wrong. Why are we walking around outside talking like it’s no big deal? Why don’t they have guards on the doors to keep them from being opened for no real reason?” LeBron asked. H
e said it loud enough so their escort could easily hear.
“They haven’t had to deal with the crawlerz yet. Once those things show up this place will adapt or die.” Drew answered.
“That sucks. They’re lucky we showed up. We’ll get them squared away. I have no desire to wake up in my stupid tall deer stand bed and see everybody below me getting eaten alive.” Mikey said.
Everyone was speaking loudly enough that the guards could catch what they were saying. Another extremely bad habit to get into in today’s world. The complete disregard for the things that could keep you alive in this new normal were eating at all of them. Although it was less obvious to those who’d come from the ship. They hadn’t been exposed to living around the crawlerz much either.
At the top of the trail was a small clearing with a ranger station. It was next to one of the towers with the massive cables on them used to distribute the power created by the dam. The small concrete block building had been outfitted to serve as a communications hub by the SEAL team stationed here. They came to a halt outside the door while the SEALs did their secret knock. A brief conversation later they were joined by a couple of the SEALs who’d been inside the shack. Captain Sheridan was left inside to get the President on the line with Jeff. No one else was allowed inside.
“Do you think it’s the electricity or the water?” LeBron asked Drew. As cryptic as the question was it didn’t take long for Drew to figure out what his little brother was talking about.
“I guess it depends if you think that they track us by sound or if you think they depend more on their psychic powers.” Drew answered thoughtfully. They both stared back down the trail towards the dam. They could just make it out through the densely packed trees separating them from the valley the massive dam was in.
Drew’s answer made a lot of sense. It was something they’d constantly discussed since the early days of the infection. If they could get a solid handle on how the crawlerz found their victims that’d tell them what not to do. The idea that the massive electrical fields generated all around this place could be blocking the crawlerz from ‘observing’ them psychically was fueling all kinds of speculation. Of course, the explanation for why the crawlerz hadn’t showed up could be much simpler than that. They were in the middle of nowhere and the sound of the rushing water covered up most of the noise they were making.
Whether it was the background noise of the water or some sort of psychic power line induced force field this place seemed like it was safe for the moment. Not that any of them would purposefully let their guard down. Not when they’d seen a fully crewed aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean get taken down by the infection. If it could happen there, then a dam in the middle of the woods wasn’t anywhere close to safe. The most logical reason for the garrison here to still be standing despite their lax attitude towards keeping quiet was the remote location.
The crawlerz wouldn’t come across the water. They might not sense the men there psychically with all the other energies radiated into the air. They might not even be able to hear them over the background noise. Regardless of that, no one in the tight little group doubted that the dam would eventually be overrun. If they ended up staying here, then they’d be campaigning for some major changes to the way operations were being conducted.
Jeff was in the room for forever. Captain Sheridan eventually walked outside. The captain shut the door behind him so that Jeff could have a private conversation with the President. LeBron tried to have a quick sidebar with Sheridan about the state of the bases defenses but was quickly shut down. The captain was obviously irritated about being kicked out of his own communications room. Doubly so since the President had asked him to leave so he could discuss strategy with the man he’d ordered Sheridan to take into custody.
After what seemed like forever the door opened. Jeff leaned out to invite Sheridan back in. He shot Yue a wink before disappearing back inside with the captain.
“That seems promising.” LeBron said. Yue didn’t bother responding. She often wondered how others missed the tell-tale signs in people’s faces. Maybe it wasn’t that people like Jeff shouldn’t play poker. Maybe it was more like Yue should absolutely be ponying up for the World Series of Poker. If this Armageddon thing all turned out to be a long nightmare, she decided she’d turn in her apron at IHOP and invest in some of those cool glasses you need to play poker in the big leagues.
She wasn’t sure what she’d seen in her brief glimpse of Jeff, but he definitely wasn’t ok. He’d heard something in that room that upset him. He wasn’t going to mention it when he came out since it was classified intel, but she’d make sure to get it out of him at the earliest possible opportunity. Not too much later they were all walking back down the trail towards the powerhouse. One man had been left behind to stand watch in the communication’s shack. Jeff was able to walk much more easily down the rough trailhead now that he had his hands freed.
“You a free man again?” Drew asked Jeff as they trudged single file back down the path. The sun was getting lower in the sky, but their guards didn’t seem concerned. Everyone who’d just arrived at the dam was getting skittish though. Being caught outside once the sun went down was normally a death sentence. At some point the denizens of the dam were going to be in for a very rude awakening.
“As free as any of us are, I guess. The President has temporarily reinstated me so at least now I can boss the captain around. I plan on using my new power to make sure I get the nicest bunk box in the building. Maybe one near a window I can open to get rid of the pee smell.” Jeff replied without turning his head to look back at Drew.
“You get used to that.” One of the SEALs chimed in.
“How are you securing the doors at night?” Yue asked ignoring the renewed conversation around the pervasive urine odor.
“Shut and lock them. Same as they’ve been secured since this place was built. They’re vandal proof and built sturdy. Should be able to keep out those crawlerz if they ever show up here.” Sheridan answered quickly.
“Do we have time to go over to the other side of the dam and check out the trucks?” Yue asked.
“How come?” Sheridan was confused by the sudden turn in the conversation. Why would they want to go look at the trucks? Jeff however immediately got where Yue was going with that idea.
“Do you have a cart up by the communication shack we could take across the dam to the other side?” Jeff asked. When the captain nodded in the affirmative Jeff had the rest of the group keep going down the trail to the powerhouse. Yue, Jeff, Sheridan and one of the other SEALs hiked back up the trail towards the communication shack.
Once they’d made it back up the trail to the shack Sheridan let the SEAL on watch know they were taking one of the carts for a joyride. The bored looking SEAL tossed him the key and they were on their way. They drove the cart out past a plaque that told the world the top of the Fontana Dam was also a section of the Appalachian Trail.
They drove across the top of the dam with Yue flashing back to time spent on the Appalachian Trail with her family growing up. Her parents had loved being in the outdoors. Her mom leaned more towards a cabin or tent camping right next to their parked car while their dad had loved to really get out to the middle of nowhere. Normally their mom won out on what they’d be doing but every once in a while, they’d gone off on a ‘dadventure’.
The cart slid to a stop in the parking lot on the other side of the massive concrete dam. A bemused Captain Sheridan got out and waited for Yue or Jeff to tell him what he was supposed to be looking at. Ever the politician Yue kept her mouth shut and let Jeff take the lead.
“You see anything odd about the trucks?” Jeff asked the two SEALs. Both of them looked over at the parked trucks.
“You mean besides the big metal cages attached to the fronts of them?” Captain Sheridan replied.
“Look closer.” Jeff said. The two muscular SEALs walked over to the trucks and stared at the cab of the first one. They stood for a second before star
ting to walk beside the trailer to check out the next one.
“What the hell happened to these trailers anyway?” the captain finally asked. He was running his hand along the massive dents in the side of the first trailer. Pulling his fingers back he cussed and threw a wad of something on the ground with a look of disgust on his face.
“Hair or blood?” Yue asked walking over to where the two SEALs were closely examining the grime covered beat to hell side of the trailer.
“You’re saying crawlerz did this?” Sheridan asked in awe.
“They can throw stuff now?” The other SEAL asked confused. He listened disbelievingly as Yue and Jeff described what it was like sleeping in one of these trailers out on the road. It was hard to digest those massive divots were caused by humans hurling themselves at the walls. Jeff even opened the back of the trailer so he could show Sheridan the extra sheet metal bolted to the frame on the inside. He showed them all the places that sheet metal was bowed and bent and had been reinforced with more wood or by sliding heavy objects against it.
Crawlerz: Book 3: The Mountains Are Calling Page 5