One mission at a time, one at a time, he repeated over and again.
“Rex.” The single word came over their coms. “Rex” was the signal to indicate he had found a way in and was in position. If he had said “Frank” that would mean he needed more time. And “Pepe” meant turn and run like hell.
They had found Scottsdale to be almost empty of infected, at least the larger groups, until they went by several apartment buildings and a few of the larger malls. The infected had gathered in the places where there could still be live meat—at least that was the assumption. If so, Ian wondered how much longer those trapped inside could last.
He figured people must have been chased into these places, and the infected gathered when they heard the cries of the others pursuit. Ian had Kinsey slow down by a gated condominium so he would get some glass on the horde a block away. He had to find some weakness with which to manipulate them.
They didn’t behave like zombies, milling about aimlessly. Instead, they were looking at the fence, trying to assess it. Some would walk right up to it and grab the wrought iron rails or the fieldstone abutments, moving as if to climb it. Their bodies did everything except propel them upward, as if the concept didn’t even exist.
Then there were the shrieks. Loud, shrill… desperate. It was easy to discern the difference between shrieks of frustration and those of excitement like when they spotted fresh meat out in the open. There was something almost human in the sound, pleading yet self-loathing. It tore at Ian’s heart to hear, but he wasn’t fooled; these were not beings to be pitied… they needed to be destroyed.
Just like the men they were going to see.
“Batter up…” Ian said.
Frank pulled the mic to his lips. “Leon, this is Frank. Pepe’s been shot, open the gate and get that nurse ready.”
“Frank, where did you get that rig? Pepe’s hurt?”
“Yeah man, hurt real bad. Open the gates and get the nurse. Rex will close up behind us.”
There was no more commentary as the gates started to open. Then a tall, thin man with long hair ran away from the gates, toward a building at the back of the encampment.
“High and tight on your two,” Jose whispered through his coms.
Rex pointed to the houses beyond the open gate. “The main guys hang out in that house there. The women and kids down there, where that guard ran to get the nurse.”
“Roger. You lead Kinsey and Armand to the women. Toby, you gag Frank, then you’re with me.” He met Rex’s eyes. “I’m trusting you, Rex… if you fuck me, I will skin you alive and feed you to the infected. Do you understand me?”
“I’m legit, Ian, you’ll see.”
Ian believed him. “Roger that.” Ian ducked out of the MRAP with Toby on his heels. Kinsey headed off with her crew, giving Ian a nod.
As soon as Armand broke the plane of the truck, there were shouts of alarm sounding. Ian stepped back and raked the window with suppressed rounds right over the roof of the MRAP. Somebody had been watching when they came in, and Ian didn’t know if he had hit him, but he did know that the shouting stopped.
It didn’t matter; the game was up. All he and Toby could do was keep them occupied enough to let Kinsey and her crew get out of sight. Lights flared to life in the windows of the house where the guards were said to be located. Ian waited and suddenly two silhouettes presented themselves, and Toby fired a salvo through the glass. The light went out, and Ian and Toby fanned out, taking opposite sides of the door to the house.
A shot rang out and Toby grunted.
“Toby, report,” Ian demanded.
“One in the shoulder, through and through,” Toby replied with a grimace in his voice.
“Active shooter behind you has been neutralized. Aeries eyes are on you, big dog, mission critical is out of range,” Jose said, letting Ian know that he was positioning for extraction.
“Roger. Shoot anything coming out of this house, front or back,” Ian replied.
“Roger.”
“Toby, on two send in a thermal.”
“Roger.”
Toby and Ian both threw in thermal grenades, causing those in the house to shout in panic. Anyone who was in the room looking out was now temporarily blind with potentially blown ear drums, and possibly on fire—or dead.
“Movement out the back door. Big T will be clear of my shot,” Jose said.
“Roger. Toby, slide to the back, and I’ll take front.” Ian had to make sure Toby didn’t block Jose’s line of fire. He waited a couple seconds before giving the front door a solid kick and slipping into the side, where Toby had just vacated.
A hail of gunfire blasted through the front door, causing Ian to drop flat to the deck. He had glimpsed a bit of the room behind the window Toby had broken with his thermal and saw it was a living room that opened into a full dining area and eventually into the kitchen. He pulled a gas can from his vest and ripped the top of it open before throwing it as far into the house as he could.
He heard the tear gas spraying out into the room, followed by coughing and curse words. Shots sounded around back, which Ian knew weren’t from his men, as they were all using suppressed weapons.
A gruff voice sputtered between coughs. “Who’s out there?”
“Drop your weapons and come out of the house and lay facedown on the ground,” Ian shouted then shifted position so he would not be where his voice had just sounded from.
“We’ll come out, all right,” another voice said. The door burst open and three men rushed out, two of whom were shooting wildly in every direction while one tucked back behind what looked to be a concrete planter.
Ian checked his fire, allowing Jose to take out the two who bowled into the yard with their guns blazing. One dropped silently to the ground, followed by the other, leaving the one behind the planter as the lone assailant, but he was ready. The man scanned the rooftops, looking for Jose while not noticing Ian as he slinked closer to the house via the shadows along the tall stucco walls of the enclosure.
“Three down in back,” Toby relayed, but Ian stayed silent.
Gun fire from Kinsey’s direction drew the man’s attention, and he stretched up to look over the planter, just enough for Ian to put two through the back of his skull.
“Three down in front; that leaves seven remaining,” Ian replied. “Jose, on Kinsey. Toby and I will clear the house in three-two-one…” Ian finished counting and both men moved cautiously toward their respective doors.
At the doorframe, Ian pulled the night vision monocular down, leaving one eye free so he wouldn’t be blinded from a muzzle flash and could identify Toby’s infrared tape on his vest. Ian saw Toby moving into the kitchen and slowly swept the living room from the wall that held a closet door. After a quick scan, he stepped back and opened the closet, seeing that it was stuffed enough with boot racks and clothes to hide someone. It was clear.
One body lay sprawled over the back of the couch, which Ian suspected was too close to the blast of the thermals they had sent through the window. There was more furniture in the room, some of it turned over, while others remained upright and looking freshly cleaned. In fact, the entire room looked as if it was scrubbed on a regular basis. Ian was shocked at this but ignored it.
Movement on his ten-thirty… He looked through the monocular and saw two men at a small passageway that presumably led to a hall and upstairs. By the slow motion in which Toby also moved, Ian assumed that he too had seen them, the confines being too close for communication with hostiles in the vicinity.
Ian slowly got down to his belly and leopard crawled behind the couch, feeling the urgency heightening as the gunshots outside increased. It sounded as if all hell was breaking loose when suddenly the door behind Ian burst open and a panicked runner came into the room, flipping on the lights instinctively. It was the man—the one called Leon—from the gate, and he had blood all over him.
The men on the stairs shot before Leon could get a word out, and he froze with his eyes open wi
de as two red flowers jumped to life on his chest. Neither Ian nor Toby hesitated, and the two men on the stairs dropped in four rounds.
“At your six. Clear entry,” Jose spoke.
“Clear first room,” Ian replied.
“With these two, that’s sixteen… two more than we bargained for,” Jose said. “Let’s speed it up; the infected are starting to gather out here. Rex closed the gate, but it’s starting to bow in.”
Ian was all for getting out of there. “Roger. Let’s clear this house double-time.”
He moved for the stairs but, as always, was beaten by Toby who moved smoothly up the steps, rifle shoulder-ready. Jose completed the lower level while Ian followed Toby, who had reached the first room near the top. When the big man began speaking to someone in the room, the tone of his voice confirmed Ian’s worst fears. He realized then, and not for the first time, why he had no regrets killing certain people.
“It’s okay, sweetie, I’m not going to hurt you. Let me check these other rooms, and I will come back and cut you loose, okay?” Toby said in his most sensitive tone.
Ian cringed, meeting Toby’s eyes as he vacated the room. There was a rage highlighting the sickened disgust that threatened to overwhelm him. Ian didn’t look into the room as he passed, knowing Toby cleared it.
They found two more girls, both in their teens, though one just barely. There was also a young boy, a very young boy, who had been beaten so badly that Ian couldn’t at first determine his race. The kid was groggy, but he was aware of the “military man” in front of him.
“Are you Rex’s kid?” The boy slowly turned and looked into Ian’s eyes. When the boy didn’t respond, Ian tried again. “Rex. Is he your dad? He brought us here to get you. Is he your father?” Ian demanded, trying to make the kid aware and responding to instructions.
The boy nodded.
“Good, come with me, and we’ll have you playing video games before morning, okay?” The kid nodded again, and Ian cut the bonds at his wrists and ankles. The boy had been through a lot. Ian didn’t even want to know the details.
Rex met them at the bottom of the stairs. He limped and had some cuts on his face but otherwise was mobile. He had a girl with him who also showed some bruises, and they both rushed to the boy. Rex could hardly contain his rage as he looked into Ian’s eyes over the shoulder of his child.
Ian knew what the man was thinking. “Sorry, but I don’t think there are any left.” He looked away before speaking into his coms, giving the lead to his most trusted employee. “Jose, plan?”
“Give me five to get to the transport. Then take the MRAP and those you can carry out to the north before you wind your way back to base. I’ll give it a few minutes and drive in for the rest and what supplies we can gather.”
“Rex, will you stay behind to work the gates?” Ian asked of their new ally, who nodded.
To Kinsey, Ian said, “Stay here and ride back with Jose. Are you okay with us leaving your boyfriend, Frank, here?”
Kinsey ignored Ian’s teasing. “I say bring him out here and see if any of these ladies recognize him.”
They did recognize him, only too well. It wasn’t pretty.
“This was almost too easy, Big Shooter,” Toby said from right behind Ian.
“Yeah, but don’t kid yourself. Our real adversaries won’t be pushovers, and they’ll have much better equipment than we have,” Ian said, to which neither Toby nor Kinsey responded.
Chapter Six
Scottsdale Arizona May 1st
It was late and only Ian, Jose, and Hispanic-looking Tom sat at the big table with a map of Phoenix spread out before them. They didn’t even think about sending Tom to bed; they weren’t his parents, and the world was sorely in need of some kids who could grow up quickly, so they treated him like a team member. Of the two Toms rescued, he was the more easy-going around the adults and displayed a bit of attitude. The white kid had kind of a speak-when-spoke-to nature, probably a taboo of his childhood that he was going to have to shake in a hurry.
“So, we have the infected gathering into massive groups in five separate areas. Doing a quick count in blocks, my guess is there are over a million infected keeping whatever type of survivors there could be effectively imprisoned,” Ian said.
“We can’t get an accurate count because most of those lobbies are infested with them, so the survivors have to be on the upper floors… maybe lower, but my guess is upper,” Jose said.
“Why can’t we see them in the windows?” Tom asked.
“Either the cameras aren’t angled right, or people have learned not to be seen, hoping the infected will go away,” Ian said.
“Who knows, maybe there is no one in there at all, and it’s just them waiting for something to happen. I can’t help but feel messing with them could be igniting a wildfire.” Jose’s tone said he wished it were true, and they wouldn’t have to risk their lives on a fruitless effort.
“What? Do you think they’re just going to stand around there until they drop dead?” Ian said incredulously.
“I don’t know, Ian. Do they die on their own? We were told that they aren’t zombies, and they are actually alive. Remember the early warnings that killing them could get you arrested? What do you think happens to them?”
“I don’t know either, Jose. I hope they just die. I mean, if they are alive then it’s only a part of the process of them dying, from at least one of the laws of three,” Ian replied.
“What are the laws of three?” Tom asked.
“Three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food. Any one of those three things can kill you.”
“Oh, good to know… We’re kind of past that now, aren’t we? I mean they ain’t following the rules and shit.”
“It doesn’t appear to be taking effect, I have to agree,” Ian said. “I guess a lot of these we see out there could be more recently infected, but judging by the numbers… There are so many of them, I can’t help but believe there are some first turns still out there.”
“I hear that.” Jose held up a fist to the kid, who bumped it.
Ian suddenly saw why Jose was leaving him. He couldn’t leave the kids on their own, not in this world, and Ian couldn’t blame him. These boys needed someone; it just wasn’t him.
“Look, Ian, I can’t ask you to do this, bro. Going downtown is going to be a mess that probably won’t be survivable, and we don’t have enough bullets or people to kill a million infected.”
“I was never planning on killing them all, Jose, just distracting them for a bit. You and I’ve been watching them, and I have noticed that they respond to certain sounds differently. For instance, when they get excited by fresh meat, it brings more of them full-on. Their screams of frustration simply make the others wander into the area as if they have nothing better to do. Also, the sounds of running feet and people move them like a Black Friday crowd at Walmart.”
“I don’t think I like where this is going,” Jose said.
“No, you won’t… but get some cell phones charged before we go.” Ian slapped him on the back and was about to walk away when Tom looked up at him, confused. “What is it, Tom?”
“What is this place?” he said, pointing to an area on the map that wasn’t too far west of their current location.
“Camelback Estates.” Ian read the neighborhood name then looked closer. “The Arizona National Guard.”
“An Army base? Wouldn’t they have helicopters that you could fly in and lead the things away?” Tom asked.
“Ah, no,” Jose said and looked at the kid as if he was crazy. “We don’t have any helicopter pilots with us right now, unless of course, you know how to fly one.”
“It can’t be too hard. Not much different than driving a car, I’d guess,” Tom said, sounding as if he knew what he was talking about, which was doubtful since he wasn’t old enough to drive a car.
“You have never even driven a car, Tom, so just accept the fact that the helicopter idea is
out.” Jose looked to Ian for support but saw the man was staring blankly off into space.
“Ian, hey, Ian… are you all right?”
“There are drones here, aren’t there?” Ian said, snapping back to the conversation and remembering the initial inventory they worked up when they first arrived.
“Yeah, but we probably don’t have the range of the ones we know about, and all of the instructions are in Korean.”
“You boys are over-thinking this, as usual.” Kinsey entered the main room with Chianti and Julia, whose kids were either not awake yet or were sitting with their dads.
Ian folded his arms across his chest and looked at her. “This is a big problem, Kins. There are a lot of variables to consider once we get a plan, and we don’t even have one yet, so if you got something on the brain… spill it.”
“Well, let me break it down for you then. You have over a million infected and possibly a hundred or so people to rescue. It feels daunting because it is daunting, and it can’t be done.”
Ian and Jose started to protest, but she stifled her teammates’ responses as if she had done it a thousand times before, which she had. “Nope. No, no, just hold your thoughts until I am done. You want to save everyone so you can look at them and have them acknowledge that you were their saviors.”
“Kinsey, we ain’t like that,” Jose protested.
“You don’t want to be like that, but you are… it’s the nature of man to want that kind of validation. Which is why it’s important to listen to a woman right now. Follow me for a second, and I will show you what I mean.” She walked into the control room that had all the TV screens.
“Okay, we have the infected in these five main areas of the city. Now, we don’t have the equipment or manpower to go door-to-door and get people to come out of their apartments and join back into life. That is not going to happen. However, if you look at these three groups, they are relatively close to each other. Now, if we go to the next camera to the east, we see that the horde is still thick but not as thick.” She paused to make sure they were all still paying attention. “I’m assuming we are tapped into the traffic cams, so we should get a different cam at every intersection, and if you go two blocks south and one east you find…”
For Which We Stand: Ian's road (A Five Roads To Texas Novel Book 3) Page 6