*****
"Stage three complete, Sir." The technician operating the computer station looked up speaking to the tall lab-coated figure standing beside him. Around the technician, nineteen others sat before their stations. The tall man smiled nodding.
"Initiate stage four, gentlemen," he spoke with satisfaction.
Immediately the technician's at all twenty stations started issuing commands through their keyboards. Orders were going out. Other assets were being brought into play. Those assets were responding to the new orders.
It was starting to get interesting, thought the lab-coated figure as he smiled.
*****
Chapter 4
DAY 3: 0800 ET
First of all, I woke up really horny! Yeah it was a bitch and took me an extra minute to get dressed. Something was impeding my progress in zipping up my jeans. Now I was only waiting on daylight. The sky was already grey out, a sign of the impending cloud covered sunrise. A cloudy day might be in my favor. Still. I hated being horny. Christ, who knew when I would be laid next, wasn't like any of my old girlfriends would be dropping by for a quickie like they used to. I guess even the end of the world could not curb man’s first survival instinct, that of procreation.
The night had finally passed. Time to get busy. Wayne, Jean, and the kids had set off the alarm in the wee hours of the morning. Things had gotten too hot over there and Wayne made his run when he figured the zombies would be the least active. Smart man. They almost didn't make it. We shot eleven of them undead bastards that were chasing them. I wished for a silencer but there was no help for it. It was also a major bitch for Michael and me to drag them away from the house in the dead of night. No, we didn't invent any new cuss words but we used up our entire inventory of known ones. Wayne said they had overrun his place, and that they were everywhere. The alarm kept going off so often it was seriously getting old. I really wanted to disconnect the damn thing but we needed to know if this other Jean or my ex-wife showed up. I had zero hopes for the ex-wife. As I said, she had her priorities. Knowing me very well, she would rightly assume I would keep our children protected. Yeah okay. We would sneak up into the house and look out the windows. Nothing but zombies looking for a snack. We continued to wait.
I had wanted to give it more than a day or two, like a week but I needed to see what was going on and I had friends to check on. We also lost power for good last night. I had to fire up the generator. I had roughly a two-month supply of fuel for it. We listened to the chaos and horror happening in the world around us on the shortwave. That was our so-called entertainment. The kids were going nuts and wanted out but we bribed them with hot chocolate, popcorn, and plenty of movies. God they were seriously making a dent in my video library and candy stash. The cell phones started working again sporadically. I got through to my parents. They were fine along with my brother. Devil's Hole, where they live was holed up, pun intended. Barricaded. Only one-way in or out and they were manning it with plenty of firepower. A bunch of geriatrics mostly resided there who were obviously quite capable of holding their own. Dad said the dead/undead, if that makes sense, were three to four feet deep in places on the other side of their makeshift barrier, yet fresh ones still kept coming. Somehow, they had found Devil's Hole. I think it was smell. Old people have that particular odor and are evidently pretty tasty too.
They had plenty of ammunition for now. A few down there were ex-military and/or of the survivalist bent like me. I keep telling you it’s addictive - accumulating more and more stuff I mean. Mom said Dad's shoulder hurt from all the shooting but that they were fine as was my brother. We exchanged much love and kisses over the static of the cell phone reception. I missed them terribly.
I couldn't reach Pete. Or anyone else. Michael and Becky had similar luck, which means no luck getting a hold of anyone. I even tried the ex-wife. I got her voicemail. I did not bother leaving a message. She knew where we were and my alarm system would let me know if anyone came down the driveway. I offered up an honest, sincere prayer to God that she was holding off screwing this new doctor boyfriend because the damn bitch got pregnant at all the wrong moments. It was her gift. Not that I had any regrets mind you.
Wayne tried his daughter again with no luck either. On the bright side I found out they called Wayne's Jean 'Momma Jean' and the daughter just Jean. That actually made sense but was still wrong. Later that second day, I had also came up top to run a second power line to the alarm system. Michael covered me but there were no problems. The generator continued to give it enough juice to keep the ultrasound sensors on the driveway turned on. They more than anything else is what was alerting us when people came onto the property. We were all bored. I wanted to get out and see who was left. The shortwave kept me inside that third day.
Reports were coming in fewer now. Less people alive to talk we figured. An amazing number of dead walking around. Or undead. Or brain dead. Whatever. Millions upon millions. We also caught stories of terror and heroism that kept us riveted in our various postures of sitting or standing. Like the two State Policemen that went down fighting to protect a family of five with small children, screaming for backup into their radios. Backup that never came and was not expected, for they knew they were on their own, and while it didn't look good they refused to leave. They did not make it. Or, the newscaster in Buffalo, Idaho whose crew put their combined weight against the doors holding back the undead, while he got the last reports out. The mass of undead was greater than the crew's, and the doors eventually gave way. His screams were the last thing we heard before switching channels. Becky cried a lot. We guys did too but we hate admitting that shit. This was just wrong in every way imaginable.
We also caught an amazing amount of encrypted chatter on the military bands and the ultra high frequency channels. That was unusual to say the least. I had no clue what it meant, but it was busy. The ultra high frequencies were usually cellular phone bands. Weird. The bad news though was most of the major cities were dead. Or, nothing was coming out on the airwaves from them. I chatted to a couple hams on the ten meter and forty meter bands that were somewhat close to the major cities. No, I did not have a license but at this point, who cared. The undead were on the move in small waves outward from the major cities already. Wandering around, eating anyone stupid enough to be outside, or stupid enough to let the zombies know they were there inside a home or building. The bastards were relentless and did not give up easily. You really had to kill all within range before any others knew about you, or your ass was history. That alone was enough to keep us in lockdown.
I broke down and even said one or two prayers. Not that I was positive anyone was listening. I was also getting really horny. Even Becky was sort of starting to look adequate. Not a good sign. My mind was starting to rationalize her looks and figure and I found myself inadvertently thinking, Doable if I drank enough beer. I had dozens of cases stockpiled down here and a whole lot more of hard liquor. I was also starting to drink lightly. That made Michael frown and Becky roll her eyes. God Damn it. Why did everyone always roll their eyes around me? Wayne and Momma Jean didn't say a word about it though. They spent a lot of time with the kids keeping them sidetracked. Thank God for Grandparent types.
The Middle East and Europe were coming apart fast. We were getting word of some major shit happening over there. Nuclear shit. Not sure how much was left but many were saying the skinny they got was all out war between India, Russia, China and Western Europe. I have no idea if we got into that or not. I do know that nothing landed anywhere near us if we did, and none of the ham operators had seen anything drop. You would know if a nuclear weapon hit anywhere even remotely near you, trust me. Something tells me we didn't but I just didn't know. That is truly scary shit on par with the current shit we were experiencing. We heard the only coherent country left in the area was Israel with wall-to-wall zombies everywhere else. I offered up a sincere prayer for them brave fuckers. I had fought with them in Beirut and my respect knew no bounds. I hoped they ma
de it along with everyone else that was capable of making it through this hell. Best guess at this point was at least ninety percent plus of the population as dead or undead. It was frightening in a surreal unbelievable way. But believe it!
Michael signaled the sun was up now but behind clouds. We had good visibility. It was time to leave. I was officially bored out of my skull. I was heading out. No TV news, no internet. I'm an information junkie so I was in withdrawals. Time to go get Pete, Sandy, and their kids. I was quite sure his independence streak had worn itself out by now. If he was still alive, that is. I had woken up at six in the morning and started loading up with equipment. I wore my camouflage BDU's over a layer of thermal underwear. Then my tactical vest and equipment, knee, shin, elbow and forearm guards. Swat helmet with visor. On second thought, I unclipped the visor. I rid myself of the helmet also, and instead grabbed a boonie hat. This was a recon not a riot. I calmly laced up my jungle combat boots.
I wanted to travel light so I loaded my .40 in my Velcro chest holster plus two spare magazines. I also loaded six clips for my AR-15 and grabbed my regular colt AR. Not the HBAR sniper model I had built that was good out to seven-hundred yards. After a moment's hesitation I snagged one of my Black Ronin zombie extraordinaire machetes and strapped it across my back with its grip tilted forward over my right shoulder. The handle was wrapped in 550-Para cord and would provide a firm grip if I ever needed to use it.
I took Michael with me. Becky tried to stop him but our friends needed to be checked on. Wayne and the women would hold down the fort. I gave Wayne his choice of shotgun or AR-15 or both just in case. He took both. Like I said. A man after my own heart. Michael had his 12-gauge pump shotgun and service automatic. A .40 like mine but a Glock. I didn't care for the Glocks. I'd had one way back but got rid of it because it snagged too often on clothing. Too many sharp edges. He brought along plenty of ammo.
I led the way out the back entrance. The morning was sharp and crisp. You could feel the moisture in the air and frost coated much of the ground. Since I had trails going everywhere on my property we were able to head to the south property line on hard packed dirt, which means pretty damn quietly. We followed it westward towards Highway 37 but stopped just before the road was in sight then headed south for a bit until we came to the edge of my property. I looked and found we were behind a house. Not Pete's. His street was two over. As we watched silently, we counted an even forty of the bastards wandering around. I signaled to Michael and we slipped over the fence. He made a bit of noise doing so because of his bulk but with my help, we kept it down to a minimum. At least enough that none of the zombies noticed. Pretty sure anyways. At least none headed in our direction as we low crawled to the corner of the first house. I bent my head to Michael’s ear.
"Try not to fire until we're not coming from the direction of my place, okay?"
"You’re repeating yourself, bro. You said that like ten times."
Well it was really only six or seven but who's counting. We saw a lot of bodies in the street. Some obviously zombie's with headshots. Some not zombie or I wasn't sure. Some children. Big sigh from me. Instinct made me glance upwards as we traversed the side of the brick home we were skirting. A face peaked down at me. Holy shit! I signaled Michael to stop. "Down boy!" I whispered. He rolled his eyes but nodded when I pointed to the window and made the sign for a friendly. I clutched my throat, which technically means hostage, but in this environment, I figured it meant friendly under duress also. Besides, they were hostages within their home.
I low crawled to the back again. I had seen a basement window there. There it was. I pecked on it with a finger, peering in, and holding my finger to my lips. I needn't have worried. It slowly, very slowly opened and a female’s voice whispered.
"Who are you? Are you here to help us? How many of you are there?" I could hear the hope and fear in her voice.
"Jay, your neighbor behind you, and yes, and only two."
"Two? Oh my God, we’re dead aren't we?” Now I heard despair creeping in.
"No stay calm. I'm rescuing a friend. I'll be back shortly. How many of you are there?"
"Four of us. My three children and me. My husband didn't make it home last night. I don't know where he is. Is it as bad as they say? We can't go outside they'll eat us." Yeah, there is that after all.
"Listen. We'll be back. Get ready to leave here. Do not; come outside before we get back. You'll never find my shelter no matter how long you look. We'll collect you on our return. If you hear gunfire, try not to worry. We're trained for this." I whispered with authority. Sure, I had been trained for this but that was twenty years ago.
"Be careful and hurry back. We don't want to die." I heard faint hope there. I'll take what I can get.
"We will. Close the window. Watch. Might be an hour or more or might be fifteen minutes. We'll head through here on our return. Please, be ready." I saw a faint ghostly nod in the darkness and the window closed. I crawled to Michael and explained the situation. He nodded. Good man.
Our destination was two blocks straight ahead but I didn't want to come in at this angle, meaning I didn't want them bastards vectoring in on our home position. So I headed east. We low crawled through the bushes in the front yard. Michael followed me. The instructions were simple. Stop when I stop. Move when I move. And by stop, I meant stop. Stop everything including breathing. If he felt the need to sneeze just jump up and embrace the nearest zombie because I wasn't about to let his body irregularities kill my kids. I meant it and he totally understood this. This was life and death and as sharp as it gets. No bullshit time. If he fucked up by doing something stupid, he was totally on his own. My kids were everything to me. Life had no meaning without them. Jeopardize their lives and I'm instantly one cruel sadistic motherfucker that will turn your life into a nightmare. Okay, I'm going on too long. Moving again.
Three houses east later we still hadn't been spotted but I knew our luck was running out. There was a higher concentration of them going forward, which meant turning south. Well, I guess it would have to do. I could barely see at that distance but it appeared they were concentrated around a small area a few blocks away. Fine by me for now. Probably more survivors I thought. I wasn't stupid after all. I would think about them later and figure something out.
We made it to the car beside the drive and I shared my plan with Michael. We would sling our weapons and walk in that weird disjointed way pretending to be zombies. No way we could low crawl across pavement and not be noticed. So maybe, just maybe we could fool them for a few seconds. I nodded giving the signal. We slowly stood up and moved jerkily across the street. At least I did.
What the fuck? Michael was passing me. He was walking in some kind of stiff legged Frankenstein walk but his arms were jerking up and down. It reminded me of an old Styx video I once saw of 'domo arigato, Mr. Roboto'. Jesus Christ. They were noticing him. Several immediately started lurching in our direction. I gave it up and started running, grabbing him by the coat and dragging him the rest of the way across the street then alongside the next house there. I could hear them behind us. I spotted a walled in gazebo in the backyard and dragged him inside. So much for my, ‘let him die if he fucks it up’ attitude. I gritted my teeth.
"What the fuck were you doing?" I whispered as softly as I could, hard anger in my voice.
"Walking like a zombie."
"Dude. You looked like a spastic music video from the 80's. What a fucktard you are. How did they let you on the police force?"
"Bro. They never tested me for zombie walk."
Okay, he had me there. I actually smiled. Leave it to Michael to bring me back from the brink. We laid down behind the benches very quietly and let the zombies explore. We had heard movement attracted them, as did the smell of fresh prey. We had also heard kerosene irritated them somehow and I had coated both of us liberally before we left to disguise our fresh hot meat on sale smell. It actually worked. I won't bore you with the details other than to say they can walk fast
when they want to but when they’re searching they move slow. It was barely forty degrees out. I swear I was half frozen before the last disappeared around a house headed to the street. I shook it off and we continued.
We had better luck at the next street. Only a few in sight and they had their backs to us, just standing there. Whatever. Pete's place was ahead. There were quite a few zombies around it. I watched them as they milled around. They weren't leaving. They suspected someone was inside. Damn it! They were too close to us. I needed to make this quick. I signaled to Michael. Stay low and don't move. He nodded, as scared as I was and not afraid to admit it. I drew my zombie machete.
Rising up behind the first zombie, I gripped that damn machete and swung with all my might in an overhand baseball swing. "Thunk" The head bounded clear and I instantly grabbed the corpse holding it close and upright as the second one turned towards the sound. No blood spurted forth of which I was very thankful but the bastard stunk to high heaven. Oh, interesting. This one looked at me carefully as if something wasn't right. He lurched forward a step coming too close.
"Time to die for good mother fucker." I whispered as I dropped the one I was holding and taking a step back swung upward in a powerful stroke that almost split him in half lengthwise. A quick thrust into the brainpan finished him off. None had noticed us yet. There were four more straight ahead about eighty feet away. I ran towards them flicking my machete like a katana to wring the blood from it and attacked them from right to left.
Swinging through the first’s neck and feeling the vertebrae sheer as the head flew off like the first one, I continued the arc of my swing turning in a 360 to cleave the second the same way. By now, they had noticed me and the two remaining turned as one while reaching out but I was actually having a good time. No this wasn't a good situation but they were surprisingly easy to kill if you had any skills at all. My old karate weapon's training was doing me in good stead today. I thrust forward piercing the belly of the third in line then jerked it out. Oh hell no, it didn't kill him and I didn't expect it to. I just needed him to pause for a split second as I turned the withdraw into a down and over chop, which split her head in half. Yeah a chick zombie but I didn't hesitate. The fourth was easiest. He stumbled on the body of the third and laid all splayed out on the ground trying to get up. It was really easy to just swing and chop like splitting wood and another head bounced away.
Blood, Brains and Bullets Page 9