Water and security were the top two things on the agenda.
Preacher, Kat, and Leann were building a purification system for the water that flowed down the St. Johns River. Preacher had an ingenious idea for using the river to provide both power and gather water. His design resembled a watermill that would turn a turbine for power, plus collect water that would funnel to storage tanks. The idea was to build two or three of the mills.
DJ and Fish had worked on how to deal with our security.
First priority in their minds was the river. No one knew how zombies reacted when they entered bodies of water. We had seen them wading before, but were not sure if they would try to cross a river.
DJ collected more than enough fencing and he planned on putting it in the water around the east side of Camp Holly. It was to be placed along the bottom of the river and extend ten feet above the surface of the river.
On the west side of Camp Holly was a large open field. DJ brought up the eighteen-wheeler we had seen earlier that day at the construction site. It was already loaded with hundreds, if not thousands of cinder blocks. He said besides using the cinder blocks to beef up the wall around Camp Holly, we could extend it around the open area on the west side, allowing more living space.
Fish was mostly concerned about scabs and not zombies. He mentioned different designs for traps and ramparts along the walls that we were going to build.
Other topics were discussed, such as continuing in the effort to produce biofuel, getting the garden up and running, and even talk of a trip further out west in search of surviving cattle, chickens and pigs.
A couple of hours after nightfall, a group of us gathered around a fire in the middle of the camp. Fires at night were forbidden when we were in or near the city, but out here, it seemed okay. Fish wasn’t all too happy about it, noting the security risk. In the end, however, he joined us.
Around the fire, sipping on various drinks from rum to vodka, we sat. There were the two new arrivals, Cecil and Enrique. Fish, myself, Campbell, Chad and Daniel were there as well. DJ was just outside the circle, working with Preacher on their proposed watermill idea. Everyone else was either indoors resting or pulling guard duty.
Boomer lay at my feet, lightly snoring. Dogs, back when the world was sane, spent most of the day sleeping. Boomer hadn’t rested well in the past few days, and I’m sure he enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere Camp Holly provided.
“So, how did you survive all this time, Detective?” Campbell asked Cecil.
Cecil took a sip of rum and put his glass down on the dirt in front of him. He looked around the group for a moment, and I thought I caught a hint of nervousness from him. He wrung his hands together and spoke.
“Well, Lieutenant, I wasn’t alone until a few days ago. I was part of a pretty decent-sized group hiding out in an airport hangar at the Melbourne Airport.”
“The airport? Why didn’t you guys fly outta here?” Chad asked in his usual patronizing tone.
Cecil eyed Chad for a moment. It was clear that Cecil had learned of Chad’s criminal background. And since cops and robbers are not usually on the same team, his distrust for the former inmate was obvious. He looked away from Chad and back to Campbell.
“We didn’t have a pilot. We secured the hangar after a few other hideouts were overrun. It was actually pretty safe. Scabs and Z’s had to cross a flat and open area to get close.” Cecil bent down and picked up his glass, taking another pull.
“Are they still there?” Campbell asked.
“No.” Cecil shook his head and tucked his upper lip. He was obviously a little shaken while discussing his friends.
“Dead?” Fish asked casually.
“Most are. A couple of others may have survived.” Cecil answered. It seemed like he wanted to tell us something but, whatever it was, he appeared to feel guilty about it.
“How?” Fish persisted. He wanted to know what happened to Cecil’s friends, and didn’t really care how badly it affected the man.
Cecil took another drink, finishing off his liquor. He looked around the group and sighed.
“We had two scavenging groups. I headed one and my brother had the other one. One day, my brother’s group didn’t return. That really hit us hard. We had gone a week without losing anyone, and in one day three of us were gone. I went out looking for him a couple of times…” he trailed off.
“I’ll take that as you didn’t find him,” Fish said.
“Not alive,” he closed his eyes. “We still needed to eat. There were over twenty of us left. Some were hurt or sick. It wasn’t a good situation. Our food was almost gone, though the rain kept our water supplies full.”
“So what happened? Did you get overrun again?” Campbell asked. I could tell the Lieutenant felt sympathy for the detective.
“Kind of. I mean, we were attacked… by scabs. We had no idea they could group up. Until that day, we had only seen loners.”
“You’re not telling us everything,” Fish said accusingly. He knew something else was there. I wasn’t a psychologist or anything, but I could tell Cecil was hiding something.
Cecil hesitated a moment, then nodded. “You’re right. The scabs attacked because of my scavenging team.”
“You mean they tracked you back to the hangar?” DJ asked, walking up to the campfire.
“Not exactly,” Cecil conceded. “See, when we were out looking for supplies, one guy in our group got bit by a Z. The guy begged me not to shoot him. The truth is he should have never been out there. The man hadn’t even fired a gun before. But with my brother and his team dead, pickings were slim on people to go out and scavenge for food.”
Cecil paused a second, his mind elsewhere.
“So...?” Fish pressed.
Cecil glanced at Fish, and then looked to the ground. “I told him to run. To not look back and stay away from the hangar.”
“You let an infected live?” Fish growled.
“I thought he would have bled out and turned into a Z. I mean, he was bleeding pretty damn bad.” Cecil stood up and paced back and forth.
“Okay, so he didn’t bleed out, I take it?” Daniel asked. I didn’t think the EMT was paying attention. He had been organizing three separate first aid packs, ensuring all had the proper supplies.
“No,” Cecil confirmed. “I, ah, never saw him die. He turned into a scab. Two days later I woke up to weapons fire. There were at least four scabs. All were hacking and tearing into everyone. I saw some of our people scatter toward the exits. Some may have made it out. I was barely able to get out alive myself. But before I did, I saw the guy I let live. He was a scab and he was…”
Cecil trailed off and rubbed his face with his hands. “It was bad.”
“That’s a pretty big coincidence,” Chad said. “Did they track your scavenging group back to the hangar?”
“It’s not a coincidence, dumbass,” Fish cut in before Cecil could answer.
“What do you mean, Fish?” Campbell asked, and then looked at Cecil. “Did they track you back to the hangar?”
“We… we hadn’t left the hangar since I returned without Thomas. That bastard remembered where we were.” Cecil’s face was flushed with anger. I had a feeling that anger was focused inward.
“So you let the fuck live and now all your friends are scab-kabobs?” Chad said, standing. “That was just stupid.”
Cecil, already mad, focused on Chad and started to charge him. “You mother fuck—”
“Calm down!” DJ grabbed Cecil around the neck with his good arm and held him tight. Cecil fought to break free, but Preacher and Campbell jumped up to help DJ restrain the enraged cop.
It took a few minutes, but everyone calmed down, though few took their seats.
“So scabs retain some memory,” Campbell concluded when everyone was quiet.
“Yeah,” Cecil said, rubbing his forehead with his hand.
“Don’t blame yourself,” Campbell put his hand on Cecil’s shoulder. “There’s no way you could have known. Hell, we did
n’t know till you told us your story.”
Campbell looked around our group, as if to will his own understanding upon us.
I agreed, and didn’t need Campbell to convince me.
From the first days, I had studied the zombies. I tried to learn their habits so I could survive. In the last few days, we learned a lot of new information about the scabs. They hunted in packs, they felt things like vengeance and anger, and they retained some memories of their former selves. This was all important.
If Cecil hadn’t run into DJ when they were at the construction site, we may not have learned about the scabs retaining memory until it was too late.
Most of the group nodded in agreement. Chad just shook his head in disgust. He was prone to drama. But it was Fish who got my attention. He wasn’t even looking in Campbell’s direction. His green eyes were locked on the fire pit, watching the flames dance around the logs.
“You need to take me back,” Enrique said quietly. I think I was the only one that heard him, though.
“You need to take me back!” Enrique said more forcibly. Everyone turned to look at him.
My first thought was that he wanted to go to his wife, perhaps in the belief that she may remember him since it appeared that they had some memory left of their former lives. I was wrong.
“We can’t,” Campbell said sympathetically. I think he thought the same thing.
“You have to!” Enrique persisted.
“Look buddy,” DJ started to say, but Enrique cut him off.
“You no understand! If scabs go back, then my friends in trouble.”
“Your friends?” Campbell asked.
“At the post office,” I interjected. “He came from a larger group. His wife was bit when the two of them were out scavenging. He didn’t want to bring her back because he thought they would have executed her.” Campbell only knew the basics of how Karina and I found Enrique. We never had the chance to tell him about the group he was with before our encounter.
Enrique nodded. “They in danger. I must warn them.”
“How many?” Campbell slowly asked.
“Eleven others. We not doing well when I last there. Lots of water, but no food.” Enrique was pacing around with his hands on his forehead. “We no have much guns. No much ammo. I kill them. They going to die because of me. I must go!”
“Enrique, it’s suicide to try and go this late,” Campbell explained.
“I go on my own!” Enrique spat and started toward the road, but DJ and Campbell cut him off. “Get out of my way!” he yelled at them. Cecil moved behind Enrique, preparing to grab him. That surprised me, considering Cecil was new to our group. Maybe it was his police instincts.
“Can’t let you do that buddy,” DJ told him.
“You know where we are. If you get bit… We have to consider our security,” Campbell added.
I glanced at Fish who had just stood up. His hand was on his .45, but it remained strapped to his side. His face was chiseled like a statue, and I had a feeling that if Enrique persisted, Fish might do something ugly. I wasn’t exactly close to Enrique, but I did feel responsible for bringing him to Camp Holly.
“Sir,” I spoke up before anyone else could say or do anything. Everyone turned to look at me. “What if we made the trip in the morning? We can’t just let them die.”
“I don’t want to let anyone die, Christian. But security needs to be our primary concern. Everything else is second.”
“I agree, sir.” I was thinking fast, and surprised myself as an idea flowed rapidly from brain to mouth. “Security is our main concern. But look at this place.” I waved my arms around the area. “We are out in the open. We need to build defenses and have enough people to guard our perimeter. We have lost three men in three days. Our supply of adults is wearing thin. Imagine how much better off we would be with eleven more hands!”
“Isn’t it twenty-two hands?” Daniel asked.
“You know what I mean,” I said, rolling my eyes. “These people have suffered through a month of hell and survived. How motivated would they be to help us if they see hope?”
The Lieutenant glanced at DJ.
“He’s gotta a point, Campbell,” the big man told him as he scratched his beard. “We have a lot of work ahead of us, and not a lot of people to do it.”
Campbell turned to Fish. “What do you think?”
“Your call, sir,” Fish said evenly. Any opinion he had was masked underneath his stoic face.
Campbell looked around the group. I was reminded of how young the Lieutenant was. We were the same age. But I don’t know if I could handle making these types of decisions, knowing that the wrong one could mean death to one or all of us.
“Christian’s right,” he said and turned back to Enrique. “We will go warn them and invite them to come back with us. But we go in the morning. It is far too dangerous to try and go into the city at night.”
Enrique’s shoulders sagged and he let out a deep breath. “Thank you.”
“Hey, Lieutenant?” Cecil called.
“Yes?” Campbell said.
“That post office is across the street from the West Melbourne Police Station. Since we’re going that way, maybe we could raid it. There’s a good chance it has already been picked clean, but it could be worth a shot.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Campbell conceded. “We’ll put a plan together.”
A few people volunteered to go on the rescue mission, while others still held reservations about inviting more people into our group. That was understandable. We didn’t know the type of people we were going to go save.
“Sir, can I borrow you and DJ for a minute?” Fish asked the Lieutenant. Campbell nodded and the three sought privacy around the corner of the building.
I was a little insulted. For the last couple of weeks, Fish and I had been a team. Normally, we would be the ones going off somewhere to talk. But as we incorporated into this group, our relationship seemed like it was waning.
I didn’t like being left out so I decided to eavesdrop on their conversation.
I prowled my way over to the side of the building. I sat down so I could at least give the appearance that I was being casual.
I caught them just as they started talking.
“What’s on your mind, Master Sergeant?” Campbell asked wearily.
“That’s on my mind,” Fish responded.
“I’m sorry, I don’t follow.”
“I think it’s time I came out of retirement,” Fish grumbled.
I heard DJ chuckle. “No offense, Fish, but does that really matter anymore?”
“I have to agree with DJ. Maybe there is some military out there, but it might as well be on another planet as far as we’re concerned,” Campbell sighed.
“Sir, if we’re going to make this place work, we’re going to have to have some sort of order,” Fish explained. “As long as we choose to take in refugees, they have to see some sort of structure.”
“I think I see where you’re going with this,” DJ said. “Are you talking about militarizing the whole camp?”
“Some civilians may not like that. Hell, if we do get enough refugees in here, they might want to hold elections,” Campbell pointed out. “Our form of government was meant—”
“Our form of government is dead,” Fish said flatly. “And we need to get that into our heads. Look, I’ve been to places where clans fight amongst themselves when a leader dies. It can be treacherous and bloody. I’m not saying that might happen here, but I would never discount it, either.”
“Okay, so where are you going with this? Tell it to me straight, Master Sergeant,” Campbell ordered.
“First, you get a field promotion to Captain. And don’t give me that ‘I’m not authorized’ bullshit. You pick an XO. You’ll need a second in command.” XO in military speak means Executive Officer. They were the second in command, usually one rank lower than the commanding officer.
“Is that XO going to be you?” DJ asked.
“Okay, I’m with you so far,” Campbell said. “But what about everyone else? How do we organize this like a military camp without ruffling feathers?”
“Sir, no offense, but feathers will be ruffled no matter what happens. The good thing is, just about everyone here respects you as a leader. They will fall in line. And yes, that means they are drafted, for lack of a better term. We don’t need to assign rank to everyone, but we can form units. Form a chain of command. If we rescue these assholes tomorrow, they won’t have a choice but to get into step with us.” Fish stopped talking. I could almost picture Campbell considering what he was saying.
Fish brought up a lot of good points. I thought of Private Gonzales. He was already becoming a problem soldier, ignoring orders sometimes, and being disrespectful toward authority most of the time. He didn’t think there was a military anymore. I wondered how he would take this. After all, in his mind, the military mindset was fading. Fish was talking about bringing it back in full force. If anyone could force that on people, it would be Fish.
“Alright. That makes you First Sergeant,” Campbell said. I could tell by the sound of his voice he was smiling.
DJ laughed. “Don’t I get a say in this?”
“Of course you do, XO,” Campbell responded.
“Shit,” DJ swore. “I’ll go along with this, but don’t call me that!”
I decided it was time for me to move. I was eavesdropping long enough, and really would have rather not been caught.
At least I knew what they were up to. I thought the reorganization of our group was a great idea. Honestly, if we hadn’t started down that path, things would have turned into a major cluster in the coming days.
I walked over to the fire where Boomer was still laying. He snapped to his feet and galloped over to me. He ran between my legs in hopes that I would scratch his hind quarters. I did, and he responded with his usual euphoric expression.
Chad was still there, sitting on a bucket. Everyone else had left and gone to their various sleeping areas. Most were sleeping in the main hall for the time being.
The Hunt Chronicles (Book 2): Revelation Page 10