by Dalton Wolf
“Hey, I had him. I’m covered, baby. Head to toe, armor. All we have to worry about is getting pulled apart or some gore in our mouths or something.” He threw one hammer over her shoulder into the skull of a Leaper that was reaching for her neck.
She looked back in surprise, but quickly covered with her soldier’s face. “Thank you, sir!” she shouted firmly, but when he raised his visor again, her scowl melted instantly into a thankful smile at the flash of his sparkling ivories.
“Any time,” he said, slamming down the visor again and stepping casually off to help another soldier.
“How about tonight at eight?” she breathed quickly out of the side of her mouth.
His surprise was so total that he paused, going down under two Leapers. But one athletic twist of his well-conditioned body and two swings bashed both skulls as he lay on his side, greatly impressing Jane, who lent him an arm to pull him back to his feet.
“It’s here! It’s here!” Sarah called over the mic. “I’ve Doc with me and his package is in my lap.” After the dead silence had lasted long enough, she added, “Wow, I wish I had sounded that out in my head first.”
“Awesome,” Calvin replied deadpan, still sitting up the street and watching everything from a distance.
He and Athena were now the only two from the dealership in a working vehicle. Even Gus’ Denali had finally given up the ghost on his third ram into the building. But now they had at least finished off most of the remaining dead surrounding the group of soldiers. This was the first time Calvin had the luxury of watching everyone fight. And he did not want to admit it to Athena, but his chest was killing him. It was too bad the soldiers would most likely be leaving right away and trying to get the doc out of town, because they could use a half-dozen more shield arms. However, on further inspection, he noted only a few surviving members of the elite military unit.
“I see some of the soldiers managed to stick it out,” he commented flippantly just like he did when they were all playing a co-op game.
“Looks like Captain Buttmunch, Sergeant Do Good and privates GI Jane and Gimp Bait,” Athena reported to the others.
“Is this really a time for name-calling?” Tripper panted in reply.
“Hey, you were the first one to call her Buttmunch,” she argued.
“Oh, right. Never mind.”
Calvin slowly pulled up to the others as the Joel, Lucy and Scaggs finished the last few dozen shufflers with the Needlers.
Captain Buttmunch shouldered her rifle and stumbled over, looking haggard, but thankful for their rescue.
“Captain Batmouche’,” Calvin held out his hand to the very weary red-head.
The captain’s short red hair was matted with brain goo from the slaughtered dead, and all of the soldiers were powdered white from the clouds of masonry the assaulting vehicles had stirred up. They all, however, had the unmistakable air of gratefulness written across every tired feature of their careworn faces. The sergeant and two privates saluted Calvin. It seemed for a moment as if the captain was considering it, but she instead reached out a grimy, but appreciative hand and shook his firmly.
“Mr. Hobbes. Thank you for coming to our rescue, though I know you didn’t know we were here and might not have chosen to help if you did know.”
“We didn’t, but we were about to look for you anyway, to assist if you were still alive. That was the agreement, wasn’t it?”
“I…yes, I suppose it was. I wonder if I could entreat you to…assist us further in our mission?” she was tired, but not so fatigued that she had lost her pride. Some of it had been picked away by gnashing teeth and clawing fingers just as her soldiers had been taken from her protection one-by-one, but that pride was welded into her core and would remain until those creatures were feasting on her heart. Next to losing soldiers on orders she had given herself, asking for help from this civilian who had just saved her was going to be one of the hardest things she had ever done.
Calvin sensed her internal struggle and despite how he and the others had acted earlier, he had a great respect for the military and all that they stood for. “Let me stop you before you can do something you don’t want to do, Captain. My group will be leaving Kansas City and heading west in a few days. I’ll get you to a radio and you can call your situation in. If they send someone, you can stay with us until they arrive. If they don’t, you can ride out with us. But we have to have an understanding…”
“Go ahead.”
“I’m in charge of this wagon train,” Calvin stated firmly, holding up a hand to forestall an argument. “I will make your mission our top mission. Hell, it’s probably the only thing that really matters from here on out until that case is safe. But you won’t be appropriating anything from anyone or using your authority as a government representative unless it serves my purposes for you to do so, or if you can get us out of trouble that I can’t. You and your people will be free to walk about unless we see any conspiring. We’re all Americans, and we’re all fish out of water right now, but we’re all also paranoid and living what amounts to some shitty sci-fi movie plot. Trust will take some time to earn, but we’re in this together. We’ll restock your ammunition from our stores and see if we can find you all some armor to wear.”
“Our uniforms will be fine,” the captain countered.
“You’ll wear the armor.” Calvin held up his right forefinger again. “You’ve seen how effective my friends are as mere civilians? Trust me, you’ll be better off. I don’t have any hidden agendas or ulterior motives that are going to be popping out and I don’t expect for you to have any from this point onward. We’ll treat you all like part of our group as much as we can, but you have to agree that my orders supersede any other orders you have until we reach the wall and drop off the Doc.”
“You know we cannot do that,” the captain said angrily. “You are just making it impossible for us to agree.”
“No, I’m not. You have individual executive authority over your mission, right?”
“Yes, of course. Within certain parameters…”
“Well. I imagine you were told to do anything within your power to bring the package back to where it’s supposed to go, right?”
“Yes, of course,” the captain admitted easily.
“I think this falls under the ‘within your power’ range of the parameters, don’t you? We can get you there and we’re willing to do it, but only if it’s not always going to be military against civilians. We’re in this together and I generally hate to rub things in, but I think I need to point out that we mere civilians just saved your military ass. But God knows we simply have more experience on this battlefield. I have no doubt that we will need your military knowledge and training in the future.”
“There is no way she’s going to accept this, Scoot,” Tripper whispered.
“It’s her only option,” Athena argued quietly. “She’s not stupid. She has to know we’re their best chance and we’ll welcome their help.”
“Ma’am,” the sergeant cleared his throat. “If you please,” he motioned her back into the bloodied street away from Calvin’s people as well as the two privates.
Tripper and the others came over to join Calvin, watching and waiting. No one had yet put a safety back on their weapon, not because of the soldiers, but because they were standing in the middle of zombie central and they could already sense hordes being drawn to this spot. The two soldiers whispered for a few minutes, the captain waving her arms around and the sergeant seeming to calm her. In the end, she nodded and her broad shoulders, slumped from fatigue and defeat. The two warriors turned back and approached Calvin again. “Your terms are acceptable. No double-talk or secrets. We will be part of your team, provided I don’t think you’re trying to get us all killed,” she added. “Well, the Privates, maybe, and the Sergeant if you must, but definitely not me,” she smiled weakly.
Calvin laughed. “I can’t promise that, Hell, I’ve almost gotten us all killed at least a dozen times already.”
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“I mean, of course, intentionally trying to get us killed,” she amended still with the barest trace of a smile at one corner of her mouth, but it was quickly wiped away.
“I’m sorry. I am very fatigued. None of us had the keys to the vehicles. I hate to leave them here. But it may take hours to search through the dead to find my men. I can’t see even one set of body-armor out there.”
“If they were Infected we might have led them a few miles up the interstate,” Tripper grimaced.
“Get what you need from the vehicles and load it in the Paddy Wagon there,” Calvin pointed to Quinn’s ambulance.
“Remember to lock the Hummers,” Athena suggested. “Hef and Quinn might be able to find a way for us to return and get them started later.”
“If those masses of dead haven’t returned by then,” Scaggs said dryly as they all closed ranks to help transfer the military equipment between vehicles.
“If we lock them, we will have to look for the keys later,” the Sergeant realized.
“Oh, right.”
“And we haven’t seen any zombies that can open doors,” Scaggs shared.
“But people can, and now that this area is open, some might come through and they might know how to actually hot wire a car.”
“Good point. We should take the batteries and coils,” the Captain suggested.
“Excellent idea, Captain,” Calvin agreed. “You want to radio your people before we go?” Calvin asked.
“No, I…I need to compose myself first. If it is ok we will use the radio you have at your base.”
“Fortress,” Tripper corrected her.
“Fortress, yes. This radio is time-locked and encoded so we can only check in at certain times. In case we were captured or killed, the enemy can’t use our radios. Although I have alternate codes for communicating in other situations, this could put certain subsequent plans into action.”
“Like a firebombing of the entire city?” Tripper asked.
“If we use yours, things will be sped up quite a bit,” the captain continued, ignoring Tripper’s question, thereby affirming it in his mind.
“No problem,” Calvin agreed. “You are most welcome to use our radio.”
“But no destroying it after you use it or some chiz like that,” Scaggs added. “All the military guys in the movies try that at some point.”
Caught off guard, Batmouche’ could do nothing but laugh, genuinely and with authority. If the other soldiers hadn’t joined in she would have felt the fool, but they did.
“Nice,” Tripper high-fived Skaggs.
“Agreed,” the captain exclaimed. “First we need to find the Package.”
“We already have it and the doctor in custody,” Calvin updated her. “If you’re ready to leave, we can go now.”
He looked away as she tried to hide the buildup of tears rimming her eyes, turning away respectfully to walk for the Hedgehog. But Athena pulled up in the Tesla and raised her eyebrows at him. “My turn to drive now, Scooter,” she cooed.
“Fair enough,” he agreed.
“We’ll be right behind you guys,” he said, but when the group pulled out, the Tesla was pointed the other direction.
“See you back at the Fortress!” Athena yelled, and with the sound of screeching tires echoing through the corpse-filled deserted valley they were a tiny spec before anyone could respond.
“I should have saved the BMW ‘til later,” Tripper grumbled in disappointment as the crimson Tesla shrank into the distance.
“You got some action when we were coming back here,” Sarah reminded him.
“Yeah, but we could have raced back. How awesome would that have been?”
“Yeah, that would have been awesome. Maybe when they make a movie of this you can change the script.”
“You think?” he asked hopefully.
“Absolutely.” She replied in a voice laden with sarcasm.
Captain Batmouche’ simply sighed in annoyance and shook her head, listening to the chatter coming out of a small black speaker over their heads. Sergeant Doogard squinted a ‘take it easy’ look at her and smiled. As the vehicles drove off, the surviving soldiers sat in the back of the Paddy Wagon watching the Tesla fade into the distance.
“And that’s what we’re fighting for, people,” Doogard told the two privates. “We fight to defend this country so a young couple at the end of all creation can say ‘fuck it all’ and drive a sports car really fast through the streets of the dead.”
“That doesn’t really even make any sense, Sarge.”
“Shut up, Baldwin,” Private Erica Henson snapped at her friend. “What Sarge means is the world we’ve been out there protecting is what produces people who can kill a few hundred zombies at the gates of hell, and maybe have no hope for the future, but still find the passion to go for a joyride like teenagers just because the chance is there. That’s what we’ve been protecting.”
“Oh,” Private Baldwin muttered lamely.
“Outstanding, Henson,” the Sergeant crowed. “I think I see Corporal in your very near future. If this was a battlefield, you’d already have been field-commissioned.”
“Thanks, Sarge,” the young Latina beamed at her superior, but a cold look from the steel blue eyes of the captain washed it quickly from her features.
“That’s because both of our former corporals are dead,” the tall red-head reminded them in an icy hiss. “Along with most of the Platoon. That was stupid warfare out there. They were brainless zombies, but that didn’t mean we were prepared to kill them. How many shots did we waste in their bodies? How many times did those people tell us that? We marched in where we should have taken time…made a better plan…”
“And that’s mostly your fault, ma’am,” the sergeant said flatly. She stared at him coldly. He wasn’t telling her anything of which she wasn’t fully damn aware. “But it’s over and done, Captain. Four of us are still alive. The rest of the Company is safe on the other side of the wall. We were all volunteers here, ma’am. And the mission is still a go. We all thought we were going to die in here anyway. Hell, we still might. But, as I said, the mission is still on.”
“The mission is a disaster,” she spat quietly, leaning in so Calvin’s crew couldn’t hear. “We don’t have control over the doctor or the package. I’ve gotten most of my team killed on a failed attack. We’ve lost our vehicles. We’re out of ammo. And we are now taking orders from a civilian.”
“We’re alright, ma’am. That Calvin is good people. We got a good group around us. They might not be military trained, but they still get the job done. They saw what was happening and acted fast. That’s just the kind of people the military trains. Can we hold it against them just because they didn’t learn it from us? And they’re not crazy militia members or anti-social survivalists, just folks. Think of them as resistance fighters. They certainly know how to fight, and they’re defending their city.”
“Defending it or running away from it?” she asked.
“Both, maybe. Doesn’t matter in this case, though. If I have them figured right, they’ll be coming back eventually,” he replied. “If this vehicle they were talking about can take all of us safely out of here, it can bring them back whenever they want.”
“Hmm, we may want to get a very close look at this machine,” the captain suggested quietly. The sergeant’s eyes took on that ‘not again’ look. “Not to steal it,” she snapped angrily. “I’m not a complete idiot, and more than that, I’m a woman of my word. If it’s something that is effective, we may want to acquire the design, legally, and build some ourselves. The latest reports state that we have containment, but this might be just the start of something bad that spreads far. We’ll need to be prepared.”
“You’re absolutely right, ma’am. Maybe we can talk to their friend about that.”
She looked at him coldly, and he could tell she was having another conversation in her head that probably had him painted firmly as a brain-dead idiot. But that other voice was
surely on his side or she’d have already snapped something decidedly military and condescending at him.
“Maybe you had better do the talking, Sergeant,” she suggested. “You seem to have a better rapport with the common civilians than I do.”
“I was thinking the same thing, ma’am,” he agreed with a big smile. “But unlike most other officers in your position, you seem aware of most of your own shortcomings.”
“I—did you—thank you, Sergeant…I think,” she responded.
“Is that it?” Private Baldwin, the one Athena had called Gimp Bait, asked as he leaned over Sarah’s shoulder. “We’re here already? That close to rescue for two days?”
“Easy, son,” Sergeant Doogard warned him. “Nothing could be done about that.”
The private started to shoot a meaningful glare of blame at the captain, but at an even more meaningful glare from the sergeant, he flipped his ire back to ‘safe’.
“Let’s get a perimeter up,” the captain ordered.
“We’ve got that, Captain,” Calvin told her firmly. “I want you and all of your people rested. Grab a shower just inside the gates under the waving old man there.”
It was a testament to how tired the Captain was that she simply nodded. The soldiers jumped out and aimed their guns, now reloaded from the stores of the group. But as usual there was nothing around the Fortress. The others emptied out into the middle of the street and slowly ambled towards the entrance after a brief look around and a return wave up to Saul Rosenthal, who stood on the balcony wrapped in a heavy black blanket with only his arms poking out, one of which held one of the group’s M-16s.
“Where’s my Athena and future son-in-law Calvin?” he asked with some concern.
“They’ll be along in a minute,” Tripper called up.
As he spoke the words, distant squealing echoes from the west reverberated across the asphalt canyon. All eyes were pulled westward as the Tesla screamed around a corner two blocks away in a fog of burning rubber, quickly recovering from the tight skid and silently jetting straight towards the group without slowing. With nothing but the whine of battery driven gears, everyone could clearly hear both Calvin and Athena singing at the top of their lungs, “—you said you’d be coming back this way again, maybe, Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh baby! I love you…I really do…”