They let the snoring giant sleep for two hours then woke him up. Yue had volunteered to stay awake while Lisa and LeBron got some sleep. Mostly because she was a horrible driver. She’d never even learned how to drive a stick. She had absolutely no confidence she’d be able to figure out how to drive this truck in the few hours they had to learn. Lisa and LeBron were both much more likely candidates. Lisa had actually driven all kinds of tractors and an old pickup truck at her uncle’s farm the summer before everything fell apart. She was going to be first up for the truck driving tutorials once Harley was awake.
They couldn’t wake Harley up. They also couldn’t easily move him out of the seat he was in. Especially since the strongest person in the group was passed out in the back nursing a fractured rib. Shaun was still out cold. His medical treatment at this point revolved around periodically checking to see if he was still alive. LeBron would just whine about it only having been a week since he got fragged in the arm if he was asked to help move the monster of a man.
“It looks like it’s up to the girls to save the day again.” Lisa said in a not so excited tone of voice.
“Yay. Girl power. How the hell are we supposed to move him?” Yue asked.
“You’re not. He’s just too big. We’re going to have to make him move himself.” LeBron said cryptically. The two girls looked at him thinking he had some brilliant idea up his sleeve. They’d already tried slapping, yelling and even blasting the air conditioner. Harley hadn’t even flinched under the assault.
“What’s the move then?” Lisa asked. LeBron shuffled around until he could reach down to the floorboards and grab the jug of drinking water sitting down there. It wasn’t a high-tech solution, but it beat sitting there watching Harley drool on himself until it got dark. They needed him awake before an army of crawlerz came out to kill them all. Lisa took off the lid and happily dumped the room temperature liquid on Harley’s head.
He shifted around some and moaned a little bit but was about to go right back to snooze land. Lisa grabbed him and yelled at him to move. Between the three of them they were able to get him out of the seat and splayed out across the console. He fell back into a deep sleep and became a whole lot of dead weight. Not having much of a choice they left him bent over the console while Lisa slid into the driver’s seat. It turned out if you could drive farm equipment you could figure out a big rig.
Thankful there wasn’t a trailer attached Lisa worked on getting the hang of driving the truck. Other than having to do it with Harley’s legs getting in the way it wasn’t that rough. She figured most of the training with these trucks had to do with driving in traffic. She wasn’t going to have to worry about that anytime soon. She also wasn’t going to have to back a trailer perfectly into a truck stop parking spot. As long as all she had to do was drive forward at a moderate speed, she was feeling pretty good about it.
Lisa got back on the highway and they drove through the North Carolina forests and small towns in a generally northern direction. They’d crossed a scary looking bridge to make it into Virginia when Harley finally woke up enough to figure out that he was spread out across the console. After a quick break for everyone to stretch and take care of any other urgent needs they got back on the road. They were making good time and hoping to make it to Purcellville before being forced to pull over and find somewhere safe to spend the night.
With Harley in the passenger’s seat Lisa was able to put some more pep in her driving. She went from moderate speed to slightly faster than moderate speed. She’d made a big deal about how she was going to be able to go faster with Harley’s legs out of the way. Yue was still waiting for that to happen. Harley nodded off again after fruitlessly searching his pockets. Yue made sure to avoid eye contact with him while he was trying to figure out what’d happened to his contraband.
Harley passed back out, but Shaun woke up. He’d no sooner opened his mouth to ask what was going on when Yue put her hydration plan in motion. She started handing him water bottles that she’d mixed up powdered drinks in and cajoling him into chugging them down. She’d crushed up some of the pills she’d taken off Harley and put them in the bottles for good measure. Not that she wanted Shaun sleeping anymore but a little pain relief and some random antibiotics wouldn’t hurt him. Her biggest concern was making sure he got a lot of liquids into his system before he fell back asleep.
Sitting up to drink the water Shaun thanked them all for saving his life. After the obligatory responses he asked them where they were headed. He’d asked them the previous night when he told them they were headed to Fayetteville. After a brief hesitation Yue told him they were headed to Weathertop. Shaun was silent for a few minutes and everyone thought he’d fallen back asleep.
“Why Weathertop instead of Fayetteville?” Shaun asked curiously from the back. He evidently hadn’t passed back out yet. Yue took that as an opportunity to give him a refill on the concoction she was making him drink.
“We know people there. My boyfriend actually works there.” Yue replied. They were only a few hours from where their resident conspiracy theorist Harley had indicated the base should be. Yue wasn’t sure how much she should tell Shaun considering they might all get interrogated as soon as they arrived.
“OK cool. My uncle’s probably there too. Wendy and I were going to Fayetteville since it was a little closer. To be honest Wendy wasn’t on great terms with her dad or we’d have already been at Weathertop. Instead, we spent the last year eating our way through a lifetime’s worth of supplies.” Shaun said.
“Bomb shelter?” LeBron asked.
“Even better. Our neighbors were Mormons. The church makes them keep a year’s supply of food and money on hand in case of emergencies. Not only do they make them keep it, but the church also instructs them to share it to help their community in times of need. All their kids were away on a mission, so they had my sister and me plus a Mormon couple they knew come stay with them.” Shaun explained.
“There’s going to be a lot more Mormons in the world when this is all over with.” LeBron joked.
“Not them though. They let us in and showed us where all the supplies were then they left to go find their kids. The ones they’d sent out on a mission right before the airports and everything closed down. A mission trip in Northern Africa. They walked out holding hands and singing hymns. It must be nice to believe in something that much. Especially now. That may be what sees them through more than the stockpiles honestly.” Shaun said in a faraway voice.
“You’re not going to try and convert us, are you?” Yue said half-jokingly. The story was making her miss her mom.
“No. That’ the latter-day saints that come knocking on your door as far as I know. My cousin and I were both lapsed Catholics. The only thing she brought with her was a duffel bag full of drugs. Drugs she was most definitely not interested in sharing with the community. She didn’t get along really well with the Mormon couple we were shacked up with. With the drugs and the screaming and everything. I was kind of the peacekeeper in the group. Then we started running low on supplies and Wendy started sensing those things around us at night. We decided to roll the dice and take off for Fayetteville after listening to that message on the radio a couple hundred times. Which is how we ended up on a roof with you guys.” Shaun wrapped up his story then apologized for talking too much.
Yue had been nodding along with Shaun’s story. It rang true even though she sensed he was leaving some pieces out. That explained why the couple with Shaun had been quiet. It explained why Wendy had been the insane freak that she was. Shaun coming from money didn’t surprise her. He had an air of sophistication around him that she associated with the highly educated. For Wendy to have had access to a year’s worth of drugs they must’ve either been rich, or drug dealers. He didn’t seem like a drug dealer. Not that she’d know a drug dealer if she saw one. Not a lot of call for that kind of investigative skillset at IHOP.
Chapter 33: Is this the Secret Base?
“It’s not real
ly a secret. You could read about it on Wikipedia. It was built to be a fallback base for the government. Like during 9-11 or the Cuban missile crisis they’d have the vice president, and all those other important old government dudes go sit there. That was all the official stuff on it. The secret stuff on it was the good stuff.” Harley explained to the bemused group seated around him. The big man fairly glowed with enthusiasm when talking about conspiracy theories.
“Aliens don’t seem so far-fetched really considering we’re in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. I think just knowing that it’s used as a fallback for the government bigwigs makes it an option for us.” LeBron summed up. Harley’s eyebrow had gone up in offense at the aliens jab. He decided to let it slide since he’d been about to tell them again about his alien theory.
Not that Harley minded looking silly. When you were built like a pro wrestler people tended to avoid making fun of you. At least to your face. They also tended not to get too close to you. For that reason, he didn’t mind whipping out the silliness every once in a while. He felt like it made him more approachable. With the exception of Shaun, he considered everybody in the truck to be a close friend. He was still planning to kill Yue’s boyfriend if they ever actually found him, but they could cross that bridge when they got to it.
“Aliens or not we should be getting pretty close. Seems like we’ve been driving forever now. Even if Lisa was going like ten miles an hour for the first hundred miles.” Drew joked. The medicine must be helping since he didn’t howl with pain when he laughed. Which was good because howling with pain also made him hurt.
“Head’s up.” Lisa announced slowing down slightly. Everyone stopped talking to stare out the windshield at the vehicle up ahead.
The closer they got the easier it was to identify the vehicle as a military Humvee with a really large gun mounted on the top of it. The crew manning the Humvee were dressed for the part. They were wearing black fatigues with body armor from head to toe. They were well armed with sleek looking black submachine guns.
“Just drive up and stop or what?” Lisa asked.
“Let’s drive up and stop. Based on the size of that gun I don’t want to deal with the ’or what’ scenario.” LeBron answered immediately. Everyone else nodded and murmured their agreement. The gun looked like something that’d been ripped off a World War II battleship. It’d turn their ride into swiss cheese without even trying.
Lisa rolled up to within twenty feet of the checkpoint and stopped. The man on the big gun kept the weapon aimed directly at them. It looked like it could shoot a bowling ball from this angle. Lisa was sure that was a massive exaggeration but until it was pointed elsewhere that was going to be the visual stuck in her head. The guards managed to look bored even though they were wearing face masks.
“Why are we being stopped by Cobra Commander’s shock troops?” Drew asked. He was leaning forward out of the sleeper section. Noting the large weapon pointed at them he went ahead and lay back down. If this turned into a fight, they were going to lose big time whether he was sitting up or laying down. Might as well die comfortable.
“Refugees please turn the vehicle off and exit. Leave all of your weapons in the vehicle. Failure to comply will be met decisively.” The faceless man in black barked out from his position in front of the Humvee. The man behind him continued to casually point his weapon in their direction.
Not having any other real options, they hurried to comply. They stripped off their main weapons and exited the truck. On the ground LeBron let the men know that they’d left two wounded in the cab. That news wasn’t taken well.
“Did you not understand the meaning of the word decisively? Wounded and the sick aren’t allowed past this point unless they can show us the wound. If it looks anything like a bite mark, we shoot them. If they don’t come down out of the truck, we shoot them. We expect you to do as ordered or we will shoot you. There’s this whole thing going on where wounded people suddenly turn into superfreaks and kill everybody around them. Now get your two buddies down here on the ground.”
“Alright give me a minute.” Harley said worming his way back up into the cab. The men on the ground followed his every move with the barrels of their weapons.
“If I shoot you all and leave your bodies in a ditch no one will care. There isn’t even any paperwork I have to do. Don’t do anything that makes me, or my men think that you’re about to attack us. It will not end well for you.” The masked man who was apparently the leader reiterated.
Yue was starting to get worried. These guards were wound pretty tight. If the smallest thing could set them off, then they were screwed. Getting Drew and Harley to both keep their mouths shut would be almost impossible. If these guards searched them, she was sure they’d find enough hidden weapons to fill up an armory. Yue couldn’t even blame Drew and Harley alone for that since she personally had two pistols tucked in her waistband. She had more knives hidden on her than she could even count.
Knives and guns were everyday accessories. She felt naked and exposed with her AK-47 sitting up in the truck instead of hanging off her shoulder where it belonged. She couldn’t believe the guards were taking survivors weapons away from them. If you‘d survived on the road up until now you had to pretty much be badass. Unless your neighbors happened to be wealthy Mormons like Shaun’s. His party of four had been trimmed down to a party of one the first night on the road. If they hadn’t turned up Shaun would’ve probably died with the rest of them.
Yue tried to engage the guards in conversation while Harley, Lisa and LeBron worked on getting Drew and Shaun out of the truck. The guards ignored Yue’s attempts to talk to them. They did ask her to step back when she got a little too close for their liking. They were all focused on the circus that was Harley trying to lower a pissed off Drew down through the opening without dropping him. Leaning Drew up against the side of the truck once they finally got him down, they let him stand there. Wondering why they hadn’t let him sit down Drew stood there smiling at the guards aiming guns at them.
“What happens next?” Yue asked trying once again to get the guards talking.
“Why are you here?” The guard asked glancing over at her briefly. Yue feeling a little offended that they didn’t see her as a threat compared to Harley and the others tried to keep a smile on her face as she answered.
“We’re looking for sanctuary. We want to be part of the force taking back the country. Honestly, I’m willing to fight and work all day long. I just want a safe place to sleep at night.” Yue answered. She avoided mentioning Jeff. They didn’t know for sure what his status was here. He’d been arrested and dragged back to this base. His voice on the radio and declaration of being in charge of the effort seemed to contradict that he’d been brought back here to be imprisoned. They still needed more information before they went around telling everybody they were best buddies with Jeff.
“Not many places in the world I’d call safe anymore. This place is probably safer than most. If you get put on the force though you’ll be right back to sleeping out on the road. You’ll have some really nice gear to keep you safe though.” The guard answered. Harley was lowering Shaun down now which was turning out to be a little easier. Shaun just shut his mouth and let himself be tossed around until he was standing next to Drew.
“The force?” Yue asked.
“Yeah. Star Wars jokes aside it’s the people being sent out to start clearing major cities out. Anyway, before you get to any of that you have to be cleared by us then sent down to the refugee station in Fayetteville. That’s where you can officially join up. You’ll be assigned a job based on what skill sets you have and what’s needed. For now, I need you and the rest of your crew to lay face down on the road so we can restrain and search you.” The guard raised his voice on that last part so everyone could hear him.
“Do our wounded have to? My brother’s got a fractured rib from a stray bullet. This other guy here caught a stray in the shoulder.” Yue pleaded. Drew lying on his chest being searche
d wasn’t happening.
“I got hit by a grenade.” LeBron pointed out quickly lest anyone forget.
“Sounds like you guys need to work on your aim. Yeah. Whatever. Anybody who’s wounded can just sit up and we’ll search you that way. Do us all a favor though. Go ahead and get rid of all the extra weapons you have on you. You get them all back if you decide to leave.” The guard said eyeing them all up and down.
They sat or lay on the ground after unloading all the weapons they’d ‘forgotten about’. It was a pretty impressive pile. The lead guard went around with zip ties securing their hands behind their back. He wasn’t overly aggressive about it, but the ties still hurt. While he was patting them down a troop transport truck pulled up. A couple of similarly uniformed men got out. They walked over carrying a stack of empty duffle bags.
“We’re going to stick all of your stuff in a bag and label it with your name and social. You’ll get it back when you get down to Fayetteville. While you’re here you’ll be issued a flight suit to wear. You’ll be required to sit in a quarantine facility for the first two days. That’s to make sure you’re not infected. A doctor will come around and check you over towards the end of the quarantine period. By the look of some of you we may need to send the doctor a little earlier. Any questions?” The man started to spin around and leave. The ‘any questions’ part of his little speech had obviously been rhetorical.
Crawlerz: Book 3: The Mountains Are Calling Page 29