Hell happened (Book 2): Hell Revisited

by Terry Stenzelbarton

  Sade and Jamal were in the second reserve Stryker. They were responsible for defending the north side of the three Strykers arrayed along the base of the hill where the windmills were located south and west of the shelter. Tia and Tim manned a Stryker which guarded south side of the shelter and protected Buff and Nick’s bunker.

  Josh and Natalie were manning a pair of bunkers that protected the escape route of the children and the north side of the farm. If they were evacuated, Josh and Natalie would drive the first two SUVs and Cindy the third which were hidden there. The north side of the farm needed the least amount of watching because the heavily wooded area had been booby trapped with noisemakers and flares. Anyone attempting to come at the farm from that direction would give their positions away and have to fight through the tangle of briars and trees. They’d be picked off easily.

  Tony was in his office in the storage building and was being protected by Katie and Karen, neither of who could safely shoot the .50 caliber rifles. They’d been armed with AR-15s and would only shoot at enemies that were within 100 feet of their position. They’d also be watching for anyone moving toward the shelter door.

  Tony would be alternating between trying to contact the Indiana camp on the frequencies he’s been given by Keith, and watching the cameras, giving Kellie as much help as he could.

  Kellie was the voice of calm across the radio. She’d be relaying what she saw on the monitors in the shelter. She’d be letting everyone know where the attackers were and where they were trying to get to. Her voice would be the anchor for the people defending their home. She would also keep Jerry appraised of injuries to the people on the farm.

  Kellie, protected by the Padre, was also responsible for the kids. If the farm was going to be overrun she was to send the kids and Cindy to evacuate via the SUVs. She would be relaying information to Jerry so he could direct everyone’s fire where it was most needed. The Padre was with her to help her watch the cameras and for her defense.

  Cleve made it clear in the morning discussion, the most valuable commodity the farm had was the people. The barn and the garage were expendable. The cattle, chickens and pigs were not worth a human’s life. They were betting that the invaders wouldn’t be using mortars to “soften up” the farm because they wanted to take over the place.

  Cleve manned a bunker in the tree line 150 yards to Jerry’s left and down the hill. Danny was with him. Buff and Nick were in a mirrored position to the right, protected from any rounds coming from the Strykers by 30 feet of earth. Both were armed with the high-powered .50 caliber rifles and each had clips filled with armor piercing rounds.

  Jerry’s choice of weapons was an M60 machine gun and a .50 caliber L96 sniper rifle they’d picked up at the Anniston Depot. He had four 10-round clips for the long gun. He’d shot it a few times to make sure the action worked and was impressed with the way it destroyed reinforced concrete walls from 500 yards away. Cleve and Buff told him he wasn’t to shoot the weapon unless it was an absolute last resort. The gun was loud and would draw fire and Jerry had to direct the defense, not become an active part. They also said the sandbags would not be protection if a .50 caliber machine gun zeroed in on him.

  From where Cleve would be positioned in the bunker, it would be up to Jerry to direct the battle this time. Cleve would be focusing defending the east and south of the farm. Jerry had argued this, but Cleve’s military training would be better served with him behind a gun while Jerry had already proven he could direct fire accurately. Jerry also had lived on this property all his life and knew every hill, valley, path and rock.

  * * *

  Amanda spent the morning moving her clothes into the house. She and Chopper walked back to the apartment and got their RV. They saw Audrey and her kids. They were on their way to the clinic to see Dan. Amanda made them promise to stop by in the afternoon and gave Audrey her address and showed her where it was.

  As good as her word, the general had the power on and the refrigerator and shelves were stocked full. There was a large freezer filled with frozen meats and vegetables. Amanda didn’t want to think about who lived here before her, but whoever it was, was a wonderful house cleaner.

  Amanda resisted the urge to turn on every light to banish any shadows, knowing power must still be at a premium and she didn’t want to waste it.

  Out the back door, through the kitchen, were a patio and a large fenced in yard. Chopper checked it out and Amanda had to find a trash bag to clean up his mess. Walking through the house, there was a gas furnace and water heater, but also a good-sized fireplace.

  There were three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a library, a dining room, living room and an office with a computer. The garage had a tool wall and large Mac toolbox. It took Amanda about two minutes to pick the lock on it and see it was a complete set. There was also an air compressor and some wood-working tools. In the top of the tool box was a picture of the family to whom this all likely belonged. It was a handsome colonel and wife and their daughter. The daughter was wearing a graduation gown. Amanda left the picture where she found it.

  There were no other pictures on the walls of family or friends and Amanda assumed the lieutenant had made sure it was all cleaned out so Amanda didn’t think she was moving into a dead person’s home.

  Amanda was upstairs, putting her clothes in the closet of the huge master bedroom and Chopper was still sniffing through the other rooms when she heard a knock at the front door.

  She raced Chopper to the door and she nearly slid into the door on the wood floor in her socks. She’d have to remember to keep Chopper’s nails clipped short to keep from ruining the floor. It was the private that had come to meet her earlier. “Sergeant, I have your uniforms and gear.”

  “Okay, let me get my shoes and coat and I’ll be right there,” Amanda told him.

  “Oh, no sergeant,” he looked over his shoulder, put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Another private got out of the green Army van and opened the slider. “Private Kerry and I will bring it in. General Parker told me that this afternoon, I am your slave.”

  Amanda smiled at the young man. She tried to remember his name but couldn’t. She tried to get a look at his nametag, but he turned around to go help his friend get the gear out of the van.

  Amanda couldn’t help herself. “Sweet,” she said. The soldier who had come to the door stopped and looked at her. “Yes sergeant?” That was when she remembered his name, Pvt. Sweet.

  Covering her memory lapse, she asked “Are you sure you don’t want some help?”

  “Absolutely not, sergeant. If the general caught you out here hauling this stuff in, she’d have me back on sewage duty.” Amanda didn’t want to think about what sewage duty was, or how Private Sweet had gotten on the detail before.

  The two privates brought in five large boxes of gear and an M-4 rifle. They also had magazines for the rifle and the box for ammunition.

  Amanda let Chopper out the back door, but left it propped open if the dog wanted to come back in. When she got back to the foyer, Sweet was sending the other private back to their office.

  Amanda was looking at him, wondering why the private was still standing in her house. “Uh, sergeant. General Parker told me to be your slave. She don’t say a lot, but when she does, I’ve learned to do what she says. She’s the smartest soldier I ever met and it’s a shitpile of a world out there and I would be dead now if it weren’t for her and what she’s done here.” She wasn’t going to argue and could use the help getting all this gear squared away before Audrey and the kids came over.

  She found out that when on duty, everyone carried their rifles. Amanda had noticed the officers had side arms and every other soldier who wasn’t doing PT had their rifles slung across their back. “We’ve had three mutant attacks in the past month here. They come at night, that’s why you see the bright lights around the outside. They don’t like the light.”

  The uniforms already had her name tag. She asked how they knew what size to get her when the
y got the boxes upstairs, and the private shrugged. “The lieutenant used to work in supply and called it in while you were talking with the general this morning. He said you were a little above average tall, slender athletic size and you had a size seven and a half wide foot. I don’t know how he does it, but I bet it all fits.”

  Amanda pulled the uniforms out of the boxes and sure as shit, they would probably fit better than her previous uniforms. She put on a pair of OD socks and tried on the boots. They felt good on her feet. It’d take a day or two to break them in, but they’d do fine.

  Between the two of them, they got everything hung up. Amanda found an iron, but she wasn’t going to have this private iron her clothes. This slave work he was doing was not something she liked having foisted upon her.

  “Private Sweet, if you can find me a military watch, I will set you free,” she told him. “You have been a mighty good slave, and I’ll hate to lose you, but I do need a watch.”

  “I’ll get you one sergeant,” and off the young kid left in a rush. Amanda wondered if he was even 18 years old. He was back in 45 minutes with three watches. She chose one with luminous hands, a stopwatch and a compass. It had a thick canvass band and when she put it on, it fit and felt good.

  “Thank you for your help this afternoon, Private Sweet. Since you are my slave, I give you the rest of the day off. If anyone asks, you’re still my slave until sundown,” she gave him a wink and walked him to the door. “Thanks again, sergeant. And if you ever need someone on your team, I’m in the personnel pool.” She closed the door behind him and leaned against it. Chopper came running in and skidded up to her. He looked thirsty and Amanda rubbed his head and went to find his dishes.

  Audrey and the kids stopped by later in the afternoon. They had Dan’s daughter with them. Dan was doing better, still coming to grips with losing his foot, and the five of them had been given quarters just a few blocks away in a house not much smaller than this one. Audrey had taken a position as a mechanic in the motor pool for starters. The children would be attending school. They were going shopping for clothing at the base exchange for everyone and all of them were going to the park before going back to visit Dan. Amanda told them to give her best to Dan, but she had re-joined the Army and had a meeting already scheduled for tonight.

  Audrey and Amanda talked for a little while longer, sharing some things they’d learned about the base while the kids played with Chopper. Amanda soon understood the civilians weren’t told everything she’d learned, so she kept the private things the general had told her to herself. She was happy to hear the kids would all be together in the same house.

  After they left, Amanda took a long bath and luxuriated in the water for a long hour. She had soft music on in her bedroom and it wafted in from her bedroom. She might have even fallen asleep for a few minutes, but if she did, it had been a brief nap. She felt relaxed and refreshed. She looked at the digital clock on the master bath’s wall. She had more than an hour until she had to be at the general’s for dinner. She wasn’t sure what to wear, but since they were going to be talking about what position Amanda would fill, she figured it wouldn’t be improper to wear her uniform.

  By five minutes to seven, Amanda was ready. She wasn’t sure if bringing Chopper with her would be the best decision, but she knew Army dog handlers kept their dogs with them or in cages, and general or not, Amanda was not putting Chopper in a cage. She thought about leaving him outside, but there was no shelter for him and she didn’t want him to feel abandoned. She reasoned herself into taking Chopper with her. It wasn’t far and if the general didn’t like it, she could always bring him back.

  Amanda was knocking on the general’s door at precisely 1900 hours. A car was pulling up just as the general opened the door. “Oh good,” General Parker said honestly, “I was hoping you’d bring him along.” She reached down and patted the dog. “Hello, Chopper. I’m glad you could make it too. Come on in, both of you. That’s Sgt. DeBusk and his wife pulling up now and Lt. Nila and his wife Carol are already here. She was happy to see three of the four were wearing uniforms like Amanda and the general. Only Carol was in civvies.

  The lieutenant introduced Amanda and Chopper to his wife and they welcomed Sgt. DeBusk and his wife Sara to the evening. “Okay everyone, let’s get comfortable. Supper will be out of the oven in 20 minutes. Drinks?” asked the general.

  “I’ll get them, general,” the lieutenant’s wife said. “I’ve got to check on the roast anyhow. A gin and tonic for you, a beer for my husband, rum and Cokes for the DeBusks and what’ll you have, Sergeant Saunders?”

  “Um, please call me Amanda, Carol. And I’m sorry. I’m not a drinker,” she looked a little sheepish as she said it. “I like ice water, ice tea or a sports drinks.”

  “No need to apologize, Amanda, neither am I. And I always make sure the general has plenty of tea, coffee, soda, beer, or liquor in her house for whoever she plans on entertaining for the night.”

  “And that, Carol, is why I like you better than your husband,” the general said, her smile and the small chuckle from the lieutenant making it clear it was a joke between people who knew each other well.

  “Amanda,” the general began, “the other person who you’ll hopefully meet in a few days is Major JJ Solomon. He’s my executive officer. He’s out on a mission right now, but should be back by the end of the week.

  “How much did you pick up today from young Private Sweet?”

  Amanda wasn’t sure if Sweet had been sent to find out her loyalty, if there were some office politics going on or something else she was missing. As her dad always told her to tell the truth because it was easier to remember. “He said something about slavery and a sewage plant I don’t think he ever wants to work in again.” The lieutenant and sergeant laughed. “He told me how to get to different buildings on post, where the motor pool was, the base exchange and things like that. He actually gave a very good orientation and he was very helpful about getting my gear and weapons.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Parker said. “When I first met him, he was locked up at the Provosts Marshall’s Office. I heard him screaming to be let out when I got to him. He and I came to an agreement and I let him out. He hasn’t made me regret it.”

  Amanda didn’t inquire into why he’d been incarcerated. She took the young man at face value until he showed her a different face.

  “Well, here’s the basics,” the older woman continued as Carol brought out drinks. “I’m probably the most senior officer left in the USA. Major Solomon, from the Air Force is my exec and the Nila is my aide. Solomon was admin, not a pilot which is too bad because we could use some pilots.

  “There’s also a second lieutenant who is our computer specialist. We are the entire officer corps.

  “We have 11 NCOs, you among them, and 64 lower enlisted. We’re from all branches of the military, including a Seaman Apprentice from the Coast Guard who was home on leave in Pueblo when Armageddon struck and a Norwegian Lance Corporal who was training here.

  “We call our unit the 1st Mid-America Defense Force and we might be the only real military unit left as an active unit, although Col. Hammond in Indiana seems to be making some good progress.

  “Our mission is to protect the community that is growing around us. The last order given by the president was martial law, which, according to Solomon, my legal expert, allows me to make the law.

  “We have 354 civilians living on base now on a post that once housed tens of thousands of soldiers and families.

  “We are slowly combing the surrounding area looking for survivors and salvaging as much of civilization as we can and bringing it here. Fortunately, we also have two computer experts in the civilian populace who are doing what they can to get a computer network running.

  “Our mission, as I see it, is to keep the ideals of the United States, the ideals on which it was built and lasted for more than 200 years alive. The laws that were passed are the laws we will live by. We might truncate some of the
legal process, but the laws remain in effect. So far, no civilian lawyers have come forward and the crime rate, as far as we can tell here on post, is negligible.

  “There are roving bands of thugs and bandits who we’ve heard about who are attacking whoever they come across. We’ve not captured any, but some of the survivors told stories. If we come across them, we’ll give them a fair trial and mete out punishment.

  “Then there are the mutants, and that’s where you come in, Sergeant Saunders. They’ve killed way too many of us already. There is no reasoning with them and they are not even human. They may have been once, but they aren’t now.

  “I’ve assigned you and Chopper to Sgt. DeBusk’s platoon. They’re the platoon that does most of the salvaging from the surrounding areas. Sadly, it is also the unit with the highest casualty rate. I think with you and Chopper however, that’ll change for the better.

  The general was interrupted by Carol who said the meal was ready. Everyone moved to the table and they enjoyed lighter talk. The general, it seemed, didn’t like to talk business while eating. After dinner, Carol asked Amanda if Chopper could have the bone from the roast as they moved outside to the general’s patio. It was a cool night and Amanda was thankful she had worn her military uniform.

  Lieutenant Nila told her how she could restock her provisions as they got low and reminded her to pick up her HUMVEE in the morning. It was waiting for her. He warned her about the blackouts that would happen during a mutant attack as power was re-allocated to spot lights and told her she’d be assigned an alert position at a later time. He encouraged the use of the chain of command, which for her was in this room with Sgt. DeBusk as her platoon sergeant.

  Sgt. DeBusk said he was pleased she had been assigned to his platoon. He was infantry by training. He knew Amanda was a helicopter mechanic by trade and her general mechanical knowledge would be welcomed. Amanda told him about Audrey’s skills and he agreed that the newcomer would be very welcome in the motor pool.