Crawlerz: Book 3: The Mountains Are Calling

by R. S. Merritt

  “How exactly do we get down to Fayetteville?” LeBron asked.

  “We have a few different ways to get you there. Just understand you’re giving up some of your freedoms by walking onto this base. We can’t have everyone running around waving guns in the air and trying to hoard supplies. There’s a chain of command and you’ll need to follow it. Kind of a martial law situation. I hope you’re all ok with that. Any more questions?” The man sighed loudly when Drew raised his hand.

  “Is this the same top-secret base they keep the aliens in?” Drew asked.

  Ignoring Drew, the men helped everyone to their feet and walked them over to the transports. Once there they cut off everyone’s restraints and had them get in the transport. Fifteen minutes later they had everyone’s extra weapons shoved into their bags.

  “What about the truck?” Lisa asked.

  “You have anything in it you need?” The man asked.

  There was another delay while the men gathered the requested personal gear out of the truck. Once everything was finally in the right bag, they were told to say goodbye to the truck. The drab truck had about had it anyway. Harley had been worried the cage was going to fall on them every time they hit a bump for the last few days. It still felt a little weird to just leave it sitting in the middle of the road like that.

  They drove for a while. A guard sat between them and their bags full of weapons. The truck stopped for a few minutes then drove into what sounded like they were driving in a tunnel. A few more stops then the sound of a large door opening for them to drive through. Once they were through the sound of the door closing again.

  They were ordered out of the truck and marched over to a very utilitarian row of rooms. The motel six would’ve looked like the Ritz compared to these rooms. The bedding and furniture were very retro. Not to be stylish but because these particular rooms hadn’t been updated in over fifty years. They were in one of the most advanced communication’s hubs on earth and the rooms they were being assigned for their quarantine period were outfitted with big old CRT screens.

  “I hope they’re color at least.” LeBron said.

  “I don’t care as long as the water in the shower is hot.” Yue said. She was practically drooling as she stared at the bathroom. The only person more excited about the shower than her was possibly Lisa. Not that the boys weren’t looking forward to being clean for once as well.

  “You’ll be assigned two to a room. Men and women are separated. You’ll be locked in your room. If any of you would rather have your own room that’s fine as well. We all know if you don’t turn in the first five minutes after being bitten then you’re probably good to go. This is just a precaution. Something happened to one of the big ships they thought was safe so now they make us do all of this. You’ll get medical attention and dinner in a few. There’s a phone in each room. Pick it up and dial zero for any questions. Your flight suits are laid out on the bed. Please change into those once you shower.” The man finished rattling off the same speech he’d given numerous times in the past.

  Lisa and Yue slipped into their room immediately. Everyone else took their cue from the two of them. They quickly paired up and went into their rooms for a long luxurious as hell shower. The men in the hallway locked the doors behind them and walked back out the corridor to the thirty-foot-high parking garage the truck was parked in. There were a few other military trucks parked inside as well as some golf carts. A twenty-foot-tall stack of crates on one side of the garage was just a sample of the supplies and gear that’d been stockpiled in the massive underground fortress.

  The men climbed into one of the golf carts lined up against the wall and headed back to their own barracks. On the way there they passed another golf cart that was taking dinner to the newest residents of the quarantine wing. The welcome wagon would also take digital pictures of the new arrivals. Those pictures would be run through the computer and reviewed by base security. There may not be a public internet anymore, but this was the internet for most government data anyway. The biggest power draw for the base was keeping the massive servers in the data center up and running.

  Chapter 34: The Brady Brig

  Showered and enjoying a huge bowl of pasta drenched in a bland red sauce Yue felt like she might be at the Ritz. A feeling of security blanketed her way better than the threadbare comforter. Lisa had passed out in the bed next to her already. A hot shower, a full stomach and the euphoric feeling of safety overwhelming her. Yue totally got it. She’d forgotten how awesome it felt to be clean.

  They’d tried turning on the TV to see if there was anything good to watch. After working the knobs and dials they got the antique turned on but couldn’t find anything to watch except black and white static. Yue thought not finding anything on TV was probably a good thing. If an old reality show or something had popped on, they’d never have been able to leave this room again. The tiny space was a shag carpeted slice of heaven.

  The one thing not working for her was the phone. With Lisa asleep and the welcome wagon gone for the day Yue had picked up the ugly green handset off the old timey rotary phone on the nightstand. Not sure if she’d ever actually used one of them before Yue dialed the zero on the phone. She watched impatiently as it slowly clicked back over to where it was supposed to go. She waited anxiously until an automated voice answered.

  The voice gave her the options for medical assistance, general questions or to speak to a person by dialing their last name. She’d spent the next ten minutes rotary dialing Jeff’s full name only to be disconnected. The system didn’t appear to like phones from the 1970’s. Why they’d install a system that didn’t work from the phones in the room was beyond Yue. They could’ve at least had it default to a human operator for the rotary challenged like her. She’d gotten over that little setback by wallowing in her current state of euphoria.

  She woke up the next morning completely disoriented. Looking over at the bed next to her she saw Lisa’s head sticking out of the covers. She sat up too quickly giving herself a head rush. The Brady Bunch interior of the cramped room reminded her where she was. Excitedly she jumped out of bed to go pee in a toilet that actually flushed and wipe with actual toilet paper. It was the simple things like that she was going to miss the most when they inevitably ended up back on the road.

  The one wall had curtains hanging down over it that made it look like there was a window. She checked to make sure and confirmed that the curtains were hiding a really nice view of the wall. She tried the door and confirmed it was locked. The room might as well have bars on the windows. It was basically a prison cell. Then again, she guessed it wouldn’t make a ton of sense to let people quarantine in unlocked rooms.

  “Is there anything to drink in here?” Lisa asked from the bed. She’d woken up when Yue started screwing around with the curtains covering the non-existent windows.

  “It’s like magic right?” Yue said walking over to the sink and filling up a glass of water. She carried the water over to Lisa and made a big deal of presenting it like a bottle of the finest wine. Lisa sniffed it and announced it an excellent year before guzzling it down in a single swallow.

  Once they were both back on their respective beds Yue brought the conversation around to asking Lisa what she thought they should do next. That led to more gushing about the beauty of modern plumbing. Taking another shower was way up there on both of their lists. Yue mentioned she couldn’t get the phone to work.

  “Trying to booty call Jeff?” Lisa asked slyly.

  “I just wish I could talk to him. We need to know what’s going on. It’s my fault we’re stuck in here.” Yue replied.

  “You mean stuck in this room with the room service and the hot showers and the lack of things trying to kill us every seven seconds?” Lisa asked sarcastically. She had a point. It wasn’t like this place was a bad move for them even if Jeff wasn’t here. On top of the food and the safety the base offered it may also help them find some sense of purpose. Joining a group fighting to take back the co
untry sounded a lot better than squatting in a basement living off scraps. Staying alive was still goal number one. She was cool with them fighting for the country, but she didn’t want any of them dying for the country.

  Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of breakfast. Powdered eggs, pancakes and coffee consumed their attention for the next ten minutes. Then around noon another knock on the door and they were getting checked over by a female military doctor. Lunch was delivered while the doctor was still there.

  “How do you people eat so much?” Lisa asked staring at the containers filled with beans and chunks of some kind of meat.

  “You both show signs of malnutrition and dehydration. Other than that, I think you’re fine. I assume you’ve been living off whatever you could scrounge?” The doctor asked curiously.

  “Yes ma’am. Have you seen the others from our group yet? They’re a lot more banged up than we are. Other than all of the concussions I’ve done pretty good.” Yue said earnestly. The doctor smiled disbelievingly at the way Yue minimized the head trauma she’d had.

  “I’m going to check them out next. I’ll come back and let you know. I guess I don’t really need to worry about patient privacy forms and all that anymore.” The doctor said smiling. She waved off their avalanche of appreciation and told them she’d be back in a few. The armed man escorting the doctor let her out then locked them back in the room. They sat back down on their beds to wait.

  An hour or so later they were having a whispered conversation when there was a light knock on the door. They’d been wondering if the doctor had forgotten her promise, so the knock was very welcome. Yue jumped up to open the door before remembering that it was locked from the outside. Instead of running over to the door, she awkwardly yelled it was ok to come in. She was on pins and needles. She was worried the doctor had taken so long to come back because one of her brothers was having some sort of complications. Considering they’d basically slapped a few Band-Aids on top of bullet wounds it was highly probable there could be some lingering issues there.

  “You guys have really been through the wringer. I’m ordering X-rays for everyone except Lisa. We don’t have an MRI machine here or I’d add that to the list. I don’t think there’s a huge need for antibiotics but if we see any foreign materials in the X-rays you might get a round of that. In the old days I’d have given you all a prescription after what you’ve been through. Pfizer isn’t mass producing this stuff anymore though, so we need to ration it. Otherwise, we’re back to attaching leeches to drain out the bad vapors.” The doctor finished with a smile. The leeches and vapor talk had totally gone over Lisa and Yue’s heads, but they gave her some courtesy laughs anyway.

  “Does that mean we’re done with the quarantine?” Yue asked.

  “Nope. One more day. Someone will come to pick you up to take you to X-ray in the morning. Once I get a copy of everyone’s X-rays, I’ll review them and write up my orders.” The doctor said as she edged towards the door.

  “What kind of orders?” Lisa asked.

  “I’ll prescribe some medicine to be issued from our stockpile if anyone needs it. We may also need to do some surgery to remove any bone or bullet fragments. Casts if anything is broken. You’ll stay here until you’re off of medical hold. Once I clear you then you’ll be moved to the common area to wait on the next transport to Fayetteville. At least that’s how it’s been handled so far.” Smiling one final time the doctor exited the room. The lock clicking with finality after she left.

  “I wonder what’s for dinner?” Lisa asked.

  With nothing to do but sit around the room and worry about what was going on with the other members of their group the hours really dragged by. There was only so many times you could take a shower or try to figure out the TV. Lisa played around with the phone but couldn’t get it to connect to a live person either. When the food fairies brought dinner, they both ate it out of sheer boredom.

  When the clock in the room said it was past eleven at night they went ahead and tried to fall asleep. It was more difficult than Yue would’ve thought. They were clean, well fed, and laying in beds with clean linens in a highly protected bunker. That’d been enough the previous night to shove them right over the ledge into sleepy town. They’d probably slept more the first night after arriving at the base than they’d slept the previous week out on the road. Especially if you only counted restful, undisturbed slumber.

  Spending the night in a stairwell surrounded by crawlerz telepathically sharing how badly they wanted to sink their teeth into your face and start chewing sucked. The same could be said for attempting to sleep in trucks while random guns kept going off. Their new situation should have lent itself well to a solid night of slumber. Maybe they should’ve done something besides sit around and eat all day. They weren’t physically tired. To make matters worse the comparatively large amount of food they’d eaten that day made them both feel bloated and more than a little nauseous.

  They were both still sleepy when the food fairy came tapping at the door with their breakfast. They’d barely had time to choke down the meal when there was another round of tapping on the door. This time it was a soldier who’d been assigned to drive Yue and the others over to the medical bay to get X-rays done. He was driving a large golf cart that could hold up to twelve people if they were all skinny. That wasn’t a problem since they’d all been adhering closely to the apocalypse fitness regimen. A random can of probably expired mystery meal a day combined with at least an hour of running for your life.

  The soldier driving the cart didn’t have too many words for any of them other than Yue. He had lots of words for Yue. Which was why Yue made sure to sit in the very last row. She wanted to put plenty of distance between herself and overly flirtatious guard. She daydreamed of running into Jeff while they were driving down the long concrete corridors. Initially it made her smile thinking of him pulling rank and dressing down the macho driver. It quickly went from there to just seeing Jeff’s smile again. What she wouldn’t give right then to have him swooping in for one of his highly awkward hugs.

  The interior of the base was painted and furnished in the drab utilitarian style the military prized. Yue got that function was prized over form. She understood the people who designed the base had budgetary limits. Even considering all that the lime green color scheme was unforgiveable. It was obviously a leftover from an age where they lacked even the smallest bit of taste. Someone at the secret base supply depot must’ve gotten them a Black Friday special on a bunch of paint no one else on the planet wanted.

  While they were waiting on X-rays Yue noticed Shaun taking a few seconds to stop and casually talk to Drew then slide over to talk to LeBron. They laughed a little bit then Shaun sat down in the uncomfortable plastic chair beside Yue.

  “Hey just laugh and smile like this is small talk. I need you to get this info over to Lisa too. It might not be a big deal, or it might save your life. I owe you guys big time but I’m only going to be able to tell you this once. If anybody asks you tell them Wendy got knocked off the roof by a crawler and a couple of us got shot on accident when we tried to rescue her.” Shaun said intently.

  “Ok.” Yue said. She didn’t know what else to say. Her brain was busy turning over the reasons that Shaun thought what he was saying might be important. A couple of ideas started to spark up. She shoved them back down as Shaun smiled and left her to walk quickly over to the other side of the room.

  They had their X-rays taken. It was surreal getting a normal medical procedure performed. It made Yue feel sad and nostalgic. She almost teared up when the technician asked her to put on the heavy lead vest. The sadness must’ve struck the tech as fear since he hurried to reassure her that the X-ray wouldn’t hurt her at all.

  Back in the room with Lisa she almost forgot to pass along the cryptic message from Shaun. They wasted a few minutes bouncing around some ideas then promptly dismissed it. Lisa wanted to know if Drew had mentioned her while Yue was with him in the medical bay. H
ating her brother for being an insensitive forgetful thoughtless idiot she smiled and lied about all the questions Drew had asked about how Lisa was doing. She had to keep from overdoing it as not even the lovestruck teen would believe Drew would ask too much.

  That afternoon they got their orders. Drew was pronounced fit to travel. The doctor had already bandaged his chest tightly and shown LeBron how to take the dressing off and reapply it as needed. Harley had his fingers in a much more professional looking splint now. The doctor had passed along that the pencil idea was ingenious though. There was a healed hairline fracture in Yue’s skull. Not much they could do about that. Shaun had an infection and needed an IV. Everyone except Lisa was given a wristband that’d keep them from doing any manual labor for the next week.

  Other than Shaun they were all set to head over to personnel and get checked in now that they’d passed through quarantine. Shaun was going to the medical bay to get an IV and pick up a prescription then he’d be joining them. Mikey or Gus would’ve been able to tell them they were now cogs in the military machine. A bureaucracy that highly favored the hurry up and wait approach to basically everything.