The Hunt Chronicles (Book 2): Revelation

by Demers, J. D.

  “What do you think about this shit?” Chad asked me. The former convict hadn’t exactly been friendly to me since I’d known him. “Hell, why am I asking you? This was your idea.”

  Chad took a long drink from a bottle. I wasn’t sure if it was water or alcohol. He didn’t seem drunk, though. I mentally prepared for a confrontation before I spoke.

  “It’s the right thing to do,” I said confidently. I thought Chad was irritated that the Lieutenant had chosen to save those people at the post office. He surprised me, though.

  “Fuck, Christian, I agree with you,” Chad said with a smirk. “Don’t be such an asshole.”

  I was taken aback. “You agree with me?”

  “Fuck yeah, man. If the Lieutenant hadn’t come to save my ass, I’d be zombie food.”

  “Does that mean you’re going with us tomorrow?” I asked.

  “Hell yeah. I also wanna to keep an eye on that pig. I don’t trust him for shit.” Chad said, referring to Cecil.

  I smiled, nodded and said goodnight to Chad. I know I’ve shown Chad in a pretty bad light up to this point, but the truth is he was just misunderstood. I know that sounds cliché, but it’s true. I’ll get more into that later.

  Boomer and I walked over to one of the small buildings in the common area of the resort. I call Camp Holly a resort loosely. The structures were old and it wasn’t exactly a five star establishment. More like a one star. But it felt secure. Feeling secure and actually being secure are two different things, though. Fish told me earlier that he and I would be bunking in the building I was approaching. We were to take turns pulling guard throughout the night.

  Once inside, I took off my gear and found my bags that Fish must have brought earlier. Either he thought I was going to survive or thought I was going to die out there and decided to keep my gear for his own use. I don’t know which, and never asked him.

  Boomer took a nap on some blankets that I laid out for myself and I rifled through my gear to prepare for the next day’s events.

  About an hour later, Fish opened the door to the small building. Originally, it had been used to store tools and back-up equipment. Fish had already cleared the equipment out.

  Fish opened the door and saw me cleaning my AR rifle.

  “You should have been asleep by now, kid,” he said gruffly.

  “Sorry, I was waiting for you.”

  “I’m not your wife, you know,” he commented as he took his own gear off. “Every forty minutes, we’re supposed to walk this side of the perimeter. Captain’s orders.”

  “Captain?” I asked, trying to sound naive.

  “Don’t bother. I know you were listening in on our conversation.” Fish sat down and took off his boots.

  “How did you know that?” I asked, figuring there was no reason to lie about my eavesdropping.

  “The way you breathe. Don’t worry. The others didn’t know you were there.”

  “Sorry. Just kinda felt left out.” I wished I wouldn’t have said that.

  “You can be such a bitch sometimes,” Fish said as he flopped back onto a pillow.

  “Well, I don’t like being out of the loop.”

  “Jesus,” Fish snorted. “Look, kid, I’m not leaving you out. You and I are still a team. It’s just that the dynamics have changed and we have to adjust. Besides, inviting those people at the post office was your idea. My idea of promoting the Lieutenant, making DJ the XO, and all that other garbage about militarizing Camp Holly came to me at the last minute. Just a gut reaction to bringing more survivors here. We have to be organized.”

  “Hey, I’m not saying I disagree with you. It makes sense.” I started putting my boots back on, figuring I would have to do a patrol soon. Boomer stood up and moved to the door. He knew that when my boots came out, we were leaving.

  There was a moment of silence as I donned the rest of my gear and grabbed the MP5.

  “Why do you want to save those people anyway?” Fish asked. I thought he had fallen asleep, but he was just lying there, eyes closed with a hand wrapped around the grip of his .45.

  “I gave my reasons why.”

  “Bullshit,” he chuckled. “The real reason.”

  I considered for a moment, remembering what Karina had said when we rescued Enrique.

  I let out a breath. “Well, I guess it was something Karina said to me yesterday.”

  “What did that little troublemaker say?” Fish wasn’t exactly keen on Karina. He thought she was to blame for Chuck dying. If she had been where she was supposed to be, none of the previous two day’s events would have ever happened.

  “She said every life matters. And you know what? She’s right. If she wouldn’t have convinced me to save Enrique, he would be dead. We’re a dying breed. Every person we save means a better chance of us making it as a species.”

  Fish chuckled again. “Heh, she’s right. But she’s still a troublemaker.”

  I laughed, “Yeah. She is that.”

  I put my hand on the door and stopped.

  “Can I ask you something?” I said, still staring at the door in front of me. I didn’t want to look him in the eyes for the question I was about to pose.

  “What’s that?” he grumbled.

  “Are you going to be okay to go tomorrow?”

  “That’s a stupid fucking question, kid,” he growled.

  “No… it’s not,” I said, almost whispering.

  “What the fuck do you mean?”

  I heard him sit up, but still did not want to turn around. I raised my head and looked at the ceiling.

  “Something has been bothering you. And I know you don’t want to talk about it. But we’re going to rescue those people tomorrow. There’s a good chance we’re going to run into those scabs I faced yesterday, and we’re damn sure going to run into zombies. I want to make sure your head is in the game.”

  “You’ve got a lot of balls, kid. I’m pretty sure it’s me who has kept your dumbass in the game these last couple of weeks.”

  At this point, I should have just walked out the door, but I couldn’t. I was confronting Fish, not because I thought he was going to be a hindrance, but because… well, I cared about him.

  “Fish, man, I know you better than you think,” I said, finally turning around to face him. “That last night at Ace Hardware, you weren’t with it. When I mentioned Enrique’s wife, you went into Neverland. When we were by the fire talking about the scabs retaining some of their memory, you were a zombie. I know what you’re thinking.”

  That was something he didn’t want to hear.

  “You don’t know shit!” he barked. He was standing now and his posture told me that he was ready to pounce on me. I had no delusions of being able to repel an attack by the former Special Forces Operative.

  I shook my head and turned back around to leave.

  “Just trying to be there for you,” I said in a low voice.

  “Worry about your own ass, kid,” I heard him say as the door shut behind Boomer and me.

  I was happy to see he was passed out when I returned half an hour later. I pulled two more patrols before I woke him for his turn. He didn’t say a word to me while he got ready and left.

  I laid there in silence. Real silence. There were no moans. No chorus of the dead. It was my first real night of silence since The Awakening.

  Chapter 9

  The Draft

  April 25th Morning

  Fish woke me a few hours later with a kick to my shin.

  “Get up. We’re having a pow-wow in fifteen minutes.”

  I groaned and stretched. Fish left before I made it to my feet. I shined a flashlight over into his area and saw all of his gear for scavenging runs was gone. He never woke me for another shift. I wondered if he got anymore rest.

  I geared up and made sure I had enough ammo for my AR-15 and Glock. I filled my two canteens full of water and grabbed a bag of beef jerky for Boomer. I picked up my small pack I had prepared the night before and called for Boomer.
/>   I opened the door and saw it was still dark outside. If the sun was coming up soon, I couldn’t tell. There were clouds covering the stars. That sent a shiver down my spine. I wondered if they were going to cancel the rescue attempt of the post office survivors.

  I made it to where we had the campfire the night before. All of the adults were there except Privates Trent and Manns, and Specialist Gardner. Gonzales was the only active duty soldier there besides Lieutenant, now Captain, Campbell. I figured the soldiers were pulling guard duty.

  Jada and Cheryl were there along with Kat and her girlfriend, Lee Ann. I hypothesized that Karina had been left to watch over the children, considering I didn’t see her anywhere.

  Cecil and Daniel were the last to show up around the campfire, which was just being lit by Jenna.

  “That’s everyone,” DJ whispered to Campbell.

  The Captain nodded to Fish, who was sitting on a log, chatting with Chad of all people.

  Fish stood up and got everyone’s attention.

  “Alright everyone, shut it!” he said in a commanding voice.

  The group fell immediately silent. Fish had what I like to call ‘The Dad Voice’.

  I suddenly realized we were already starting the militarization of Camp Holly. For those of you who have never served in the military, I’ll give you a little basic training. Officers rarely took personal charge of their troops. That was the NCO’s job. NCO’s, or Non Commissioned Officers, are the Sergeants, or in Fish’s case, the First Sergeant. Sergeants were the ones to corral the soldiers, dish out details and duties, reprimand, and so on.

  The group turned to face Fish who had stood and walked over next to Campbell and DJ. Fish whispered something to the Captain. Campbell nodded and Fish turned back to the rest of us.

  “In an hour we are heading to rescue some shlubs holed up at the West Melbourne Post Officer. Before this happens, there have to be some adjustments made to the way we are organized.” Fish waited a moment to see if anyone was going to say anything, but no one spoke.

  “The first change is that Lieutenant Campbell has received a battlefield promotion to Captain,” Fish said. There were a few chuckles, one coming from Gonzales.

  “Uh, and who did Campbell receive this promotion from?” Gonzales asked with snide grin.

  Fish darted towards Gonzales, who was too slow to react. The old sniper grabbed Gonzales by his collar and slammed him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him.

  Everyone jumped and jaws opened in surprise. No one, however, tried to interfere.

  “Get this straight, you fuck. I am tired of your disrespect and dissention. You will tighten your ass up or I will personally feed you to the Zulus! Is there any doubt in your mind that I won’t fulfill that promise?”

  I heard Gonzales grunt an acknowledgement.

  “You will, from this point forward, act like a soldier, is that clear?”

  “Ye-yah,” he said, barely able to breathe.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yes, Sergeant!” he said as loud as his lungs would let him.

  “Okay, First Sergeant, that’s enough,” Campbell said in a surprisingly calm tone.

  Fish took a second longer, staring at Gonzales just inches away from his face. I could only imagine the feeling the Private was having. I’ve been on the other side of those cold eyes. I wouldn’t be shocked if Gonzales pissed himself.

  First Sergeant Fischer stood and backed up next to the Captain. Rachel, Gonzales’s girlfriend, helped him to his feet. He pushed her gently away and held his chin high. I wasn’t sure if he was angry or scared but, regardless, he stayed silent for the rest of the meeting.

  There was a look of apology from Campbell to Gonzales, but the Captain didn’t say anything. Of course, he couldn’t. To do so would have undermined Fish’s new authority. That wasn’t proper military etiquette when it came to sergeants dealing with subordinates.

  Captain Campbell sucked in a deep breath, and then began to speak.

  “I don’t want anyone to be confused. Not much is changing. We are just establishing more organization. If we are going to bring refugees here, we need to have a structured environment that they can easily assimilate to.”

  Campbell looked around, but there was only silence. Fish just made a very big point and everyone got the message.

  The Captain continued. “We are still working out the details on how we will distribute duties and personnel. DJ,” he motioned to the big man standing next to him, “will be my XO. For those of you who do not know what that means, DJ is my Executive Officer, or rather, my second in command. Fish is the First Sergeant.”

  Some of the civilians had questionable expressions, but Campbell ignored them.

  “Chain of command will be important as we bring more people to Camp Holly. This is one of the main reasons why I wanted to address everyone before we made our rescue attempt today. It is important that we adhere to this way of life. Others that join us will have to fall in line. Are there any questions?”

  Lee Ann raised her hand.

  “Yes, Lee Ann?” Campbell waved to her.

  “Umm, Sir… or Captain, will we all be given rank? I mean, are we all in the military now?”

  Campbell nodded and gave a weak grin. “To a lesser degree, I guess you could say that. I don’t plan on calling people private and such. But leadership ranks will be given to people in those positions. Like I said, we have not worked out all the details. I will tell you everyone here will have a primary job. However, you can count on having secondary, and in some cases, tertiary responsibilities.”

  Another hand was raised, this time by Cheryl.

  “Go ahead, Cheryl,” Campbell gestured.

  “Captain,” the elderly lady said, “I don’t know much about the military. I mean, rank and codes and—”

  “Cheryl,” DJ said with a grin, “Don’t worry about that right now. I will be going over some basics with everyone today.”

  “I’m going to leave DJ here today to start formulating our structure. He and I have already worked out a few things, and he will review that with you while we’re gone,” Campbell announced.

  I noticed Ryan, DJ’s wife, appeared relieved that he wasn’t going on the rescue mission with us. DJ was still not one hundred percent since the scab had drilled him in the shoulder with a pick axe.

  “Sir?” Cecil spoke up. “Who all is going today?”

  “We will be taking three groups with us. The first team will be me, the First Sergeant, Christian and Enrique. We will be making the initial contact with the survivors there. Backing us up will be team two. That will be headed up by Specialist Gardner with Jenna, Daniel and Chad. They will stay just out of visual range until we call them up. We have to be careful.”

  “And the third team, sir?” Gonzales asked in an even tone. I could tell he was still upset. I think he was asking because he wanted to go. Gonzales could be an asshole and did cause dissent with Campbell, but he wasn’t a coward.

  Campbell turned to Cecil. “You were a sergeant in law enforcement, correct?”

  “Yes sir,” Cecil nodded.

  Campbell smiled. “Well, you’re still a sergeant. You will lead team three to the West Melbourne Police Department. You will have Private Gonzales and Private Trent with you.”

  Campbell turned to Fish. “First Sergeant.”

  “That’s it, folks,” Fish said, taking a step forward. “Everyone not going needs to meet with the XO in the reception building. The rest of you are to be out front in twenty. Make sure you grab your suppressed weapons, high powered rifles if you have them, some water, enough food for a day, and plenty of ammo. Dismissed!”

  There were some mummers from a few people, but most started to scatter in various directions.

  “Gonzo!” Fish called to Gonzales. The Private turned back around.

  “Yes, First Sergeant?” Surprisingly, there wasn’t any malice in his voice.

  “Walk with me,” he ordered and the two marched off to the rear of
the camp.

  Boomer and I were walking to the reception hall to grab some breakfast when Campbell intercepted me.

  “Christian,” he said, jogging up next to me.

  “Yes sir?” I stopped and faced him.

  “I hate to do this, but you’re going to have to leave Boomer back here.”

  “Excuse me, sir?” I was confused. Why would he want to leave our best advantage for detecting scabs?

  “I know what you’re thinking, Christian. And yes, Boomer would be a great asset to have with us, but we’re leaving Camp Holly virtually undefended. Besides Manns, there is only DJ here to fend off any potential threats. Sure, the rest will be armed, but if something were to come to the camp, they will need every advantage.”

  “Sir, neither DJ nor Manns know how to deal with Boomer,” I argued.

  “True, but Karina has spent time with Boomer in the city. You said yourself she was good with him, and not a bad shot either.”

  I sighed. “But sir, she’s only fourteen. She can read Boomer, sure, but… she’s only a kid.”

  Campbell looked to the ground and then back up at me. “At what age do people start protecting themselves and others in this shitty world? At some point, these kids need to grow up. I know that sounds a little tough on my end, but if she has already shown she can do it, we might as well use her.”

  “Alright, sir,” I nodded reluctantly. An order was an order, and it pretty much sounded like that was what he was giving me.

  Campbell patted my shoulder and walked past me to the reception area.

  He was right, of course. The camp was going to be short on defenders. Boomer wouldn’t let anything get near the camp. He liked Karina and would probably listen to her.

  I went back to the shack and grab the MP5 submachine gun. If Karina had to go outside with Boomer, she might as well be armed with a weapon she was comfortable with. I wouldn’t need it where I was going. I had my Glock for a suppressed weapon and my AR-15 for scabs or if we were overwhelmed with dead-heads.

  I then headed toward the reception building and, once inside the cool darkness, I called to her in a whisper so as not to wake the other kids.