"Jesus, that was still over a hundred rounds. Like this Jean." Suddenly she had the soldier half across her lap, his back pressed tightly into her chest. He had lunged across her but in the narrow cowling there was little room. It was all she could do to see over his shoulder as he grabbed the handles with deft hands, rotated the barrel slightly depressing it downward and fired immediately releasing the triggers. It sounded like a half dozen rounds in total were fired but she saw two of the undead explode beside their Humvee. "I can't aim like this. You take over again. Watch the ammo damn it!" he lurched back to his side. She thought he did great actually. Much better than she had been doing. Experimenting, she found she could hold one switch and tap the other for brief bursts and did just that, as they started moving faster now that they were finally past the fencing surrounding Jedediah's farm. A long stream of Humvees and other vehicles followed in their wake as they hit a major Highway and turned north. She was finally able to release the gun, rotating it back in front of Dean.
A hand slapped her leg and she felt something pushing her knees apart. She looked down in surprise and semi-shock as a head thrust up between her thighs. It was the Major and he wasn't smiling. It was only then that she realized the cage work she was in was half in the vehicle and half out. She felt his shoulders push up against the bottoms of her legs and started to say something but he cut her off.
"Okay, Miss Jean, we're not going to Newaygo where you wish to be and were not going back to the relocation camp in Greenville either. We have orders to meet up with another team in a few hours where we'll drop you off."
"Yes, you said I was a person of interest earlier. What does that mean exactly?"
"I don't know. Only that we were given your location and description and told to secure you at any cost. Trust me it was not my idea to attack these creatures at night. We lost a lot of good people." He shrugged apologetically and in half anger. She could tell by his expression he really didn't know. But why her? She was nobody. A schoolteacher from Fort Wayne Indiana who had never done anything really important in her life other than give birth to her children. Thoughts of them burned through her and she looked at the Major with tears in her eyes.
"I must get to my children. I must." she pleaded.
"I understand but you'll have to take it up with the team at our current destination." He ducked back down to look through the windshield then was back. "We are headed north on 37. In a short while, we'll cross Highway 48. From there we'll continue north for about five miles then west another two-miles where we'll meet up. You'll be maybe ten miles from Newaygo. Maybe they can take you there? I really have no idea why you’re needed. Were you in biomedical research?"
She shook her head no. With a shrug, he wiggled back down and tugged on her legs. She let herself be guided down into the cab of the Humvee. The driver turned briefly to give her a quick grin before resuming his driving and she settled between them half in the Major’s lap and half on the console between the two men. The Major spread a map out across their legs and pointed to a spot on it. He measured with forefinger and thumb then turned to her. "Newaygo like I said is about ten miles north of where we turn west. Closer to eight really. I can't promise you'll find an easy way to Newaygo as only this other unit can decide that. We have to get to Muskegon after dropping you off. They shellacked us back at that farm. I have to admit it, and everything is totally wrong. We never should have attacked at night like I said. That damn Colonel. They have all the advantage and we had no night vision gear. But orders said to attack at night. We lost a quarter of our forces in the last half day. It's crazy. But I have my orders and I can't disobey them." He looked at her with real concern on his face.
"Can't you please just drive me up to Newaygo? Please!" she begged. She was starting to cry and she hated that weakness but she was scared out of her mind.
"Miss Jean I can't. I'm under strict orders. I'm to proceed directly to the Coast Guard docks in Muskegon after dropping you off. They just changed see." He held up a large device that looked like one of those scanners she had seen in the past. GENERAL DYNAMICS AN/PRC-155 was stamped across the top. This one was a rugged green with black knobs and a largish screen in the center where text could be seen. Touch buttons below it enabled her to scroll up and down but the text was short and simple. A clear direction to proceed to... by order of the commanding General whose name she didn't recognize not that she new many Generals. She didn't understand and looked up at the Major in confusion.
He pointed with a finger, "Those coordinates are the Muskegon Coast Guard docks. We have to follow all our orders on the threat of immediate punishment by field court martial and firing squad during this emergency. There are no other options left to me." He looked down. She understood his words but had no idea how she would make it. Eight miles seemed like an eternity in this strange new world. The driver said something that she didn't catch because her mind was awhirl. Eight miles. She could walk it easily on a normal day but in this time and place. She wanted to curl up and die but the thought of her children kept her going. The Major said something to her she also didn't catch.
"Sorry. What was that?"
"I said; hold on we’re going off road. There's a large group of them up ahead. We'll head northeast then cross over to 37 after we bypass them." His words filtered through all the thoughts filling her head and she looked up just as the Humvee swerved to the right going off road. She found herself holding on for dear life as the vehicle went careening through a farmer's field after jumping the small drainage ditch in front of it. Looking over the Major’s shoulder, she saw that the other trucks were following them in tightly packed formation.
The Major shouted above the roar of the engine. "My orders say nothing about not giving you support. I can release five men to escort you TAD and report to us in Muskegon after seeing you safely to your family if the other team okay's it." He said it as if he would not see his men again. She prayed that didn't mean what she thought it meant. If things were as bad as he indicated finding her children and parents safe after all this time was a long shot at best.
They drove for some time. Much faster than she thought safe. Occasionally she heard moans from the wounded men in the seats behind her. She had turned and looked at them earlier and some of the wounds appeared life threatening. She couldn't begin to know what they were going through with all this bouncing and twisting left and right. They were traveling from one field to the next. Through some woods and along others and many times were forced to swerve in a zigzag pattern as they avoided migrating groups of the turned creatures. There were just so many of them. She watched them with dread in the pit of her stomach not seeing how five men would be much help. They had to be several miles north of where they went off the main road, which she figured meant they were even closer to her destination. She hoped they kept going north but it wasn't to be, as the Major made a quick signal to the driver and they suddenly turned left or west as she was coming to think of directions as compass points on a map. The Major shouted something about stopping when they reached Highway 37 again if there were no large groups. She crossed her fingers and hoped.
Breaking through heavy brush, they bounced through someone's back yard narrowly missing a swing set and were suddenly at a main road. The Humvee slid to a halt and her head swiveled left and right watching for groups of the undead. They were there all right but no large ones thank God. Only scattered individuals. She turned to the Major with hope in her eyes her mouth opening to speak.
"Wait, Miss Jean. GPS coordinates indicate our destination is the fuel farm about two klicks west of here beside a main cell tower complex. We'll leave the majority of our vehicles here with the wounded and ferry you there along with one of my fuel tankers. We need to gas up while where there. The cell tower complex should provide us with some protection from these things as it will be heavily fenced." He keyed his lapel microphone again issuing commands and three vehicles peeled off the larger group to join theirs that was proceeding slowly up the r
oad to the nearby intersection then headed west. As they slowly drove down the dirt road, what she found amazing was there were few cars blocking most of the roads they had traveled. Oh, there was the lone vehicle here and there but otherwise it was empty. On second thought, it made perfect sense. When people got sick, they didn't go out shopping. They went home to their families or hospitals to get better. The emergency warnings probably helped with that also.
She guessed they had traveled this two klicks or kilometers when they turned into a large parking lot on the north side of the road before coming to a halt again. The only problem was the parking lot wasn't empty. There was a very large military vehicle there that looked like a four-wheel drive semi tractor trailer and a couple of large military trucks and several black painted Humvees, black instead of the camouflage pattern like the vehicles in their group. There were quite a few black clad soldiers arrayed in front of the vehicles, guns pointed as them as they came to a halt. The Major raised his hand and again keyed his microphone. She saw the expression on his face and it was one of surprise and caution. She thought he would be happy. He wasn't.
*****
DAY 5: 1100
During the morning, they had established a routine. More refugees had arrived. Four men, nine women, and a double handful of children. Eight of the women had lost their husbands either to the flu or to desperate attempts at saving their families. Cara and Bridget had been correct I suppose. I had been up since ten when the girls woke me and despite the lack of sleep induced headache, had thrown on my clothes rushing out. I needed to check on our progress. Where in the hell was Miguel?
I found him in his usual spot. The backroom table surrounded by piles of scribbled on papers and a base CB as he communicated with the various teams out there. I told him to get some sleep but he refused. Rosita was keeping him supplied with hot coffee and with a flushed face told me with excitement that they had already found three more children. Then his eyes looked down in sorrow, as he described the teams were also finding many more that hadn't made it. He was determined to save as many as possible and already had a man on the shortwave transceiver describing our experiences to anyone out there who would listen.
We were still getting quite a few reports off it. There was a lot of activity going on out there. The planet earth had been mostly depopulated of living breathing humans like you and I and in their place apparently tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of zombies walked. Mostly the reports were from small groups like ours that were holed up here and there. We heard from many out west but a few on the eastern seaboard also. There were still reports of groups of Armed Forces operating within the United States. They were battling the undead but the picture I got was they were losing. Just too, damn many of bastards, and not enough ammunition. Most of the Army was dead from the vaccines anyways. I'm guessing that made all the difference. Those channels of encrypted traffic were still operating. That concerned me. I'm not sure why but it did. What was more disturbing were reports we started getting of armed bands of human marauders. Some folk were taking advantage of the situation, helping themselves to everything they could get their hands on, and killing good decent people when it wasn't freely given. I knew something of the sort would crop up soon and had been dreading it.
Cell towers were still working but no one could get a call out since day before yesterday. Even to another phone next to you. I mean, I had five bars but it was as if no connection could be made. Probably the main lines connecting them were down. I knew my parents and brother were still okay and from all accounts doing well from our CB communications. They had their own little thing going on down there in Devil's Hole. Eventually, I'd get around to collecting them. In the meantime, my dad was having a blast killing the occasional group of zombies that managed to make their way down there. They still had plenty of food so I wasn't too worried. Of Caitlin, the mother of my children, there was still no answer. No answer at the hospital either. Just busy signals or the silence of open lines.
I yawned mightily. Between the playtime with my two women and events, the lack of sleep had almost put me in a coma. Miguel was in worse shape than I but handling it well. Bridget and Cara trooped through on their way outside to do whatever chores Rosita had given them. I got two kisses and delivered two swat's on two perfect asses. Of course, Miguel thought the whole situation was hilarious. He still wasn't convinced Cara could be in a multiple woman relationship but he was holding his tongue. In the meantime, I had been the butt of a great many good-natured jokes as all the men and most of the women had their fun with me this morning. I would soon find out Bridget and Cara were like energizer bunnies, and I wouldn't be allowed that much sleep at night.
A few of the groups had met large numbers of zombies and Miguel had instantly sent out reinforcements. We did lose two to the motherfuckers when one group was clearing out a house. They had been paying more attention to each other than their surroundings. It was a hard lesson but one I think everyone learned. We also received some fantastic news. Other than more children being found alive that is. Michael’s group whose task was to empty out Pine Medical Clinic had run across two doctors and a nurse, hiding in a back room from the creatures, scared but alive and well. They had also been starving with nothing to eat for several days. I will admit I got a little teary eyed at the news. I had been really worried about the lack of medical staff. Especially the way people were screwing like rabbits around here. Supplies were rolling in and the women and older children down at RAC were rapidly cataloging everything and storing it away in empty boxcars. I knew them bastards would come in handy.
Jason had promised me another day before continuing his mission for the Lord. I wanted to get those fuel trucks before the droves of undead I knew were coming overran us, and as I figured I found him in the living room playing with Emma. He was rolling her back and forth across the floor ticking her while my son, Paul and daughter, Clarissa was trying to wrestle him to the ground. Their squeals of laughter made all this worthwhile. I really hated to interrupt but the lack time and things needing doing and all that. The kids saw me standing there and shouting "Daddy!" they all piled on me. I crouched giving them much love and dispensing tons of sugar on them as I signaled, and Jason nodded. He would join me in a moment. I turned to gather the rest of the crew I would need.
"Miguel, I need a plow and two big trucks and my SUV. I also need four men who can drive tractor. I'd like Michael too. We need to get the fuel tankers." He knew how important it was and nodded, getting on the CB immediately.
It took a bit but he pulled it together. Jason, Michael and I along with one of the truck drivers rode in my SUV. And yes, I decided to take Cara with us also. She was bugging the shit out of me to be part of our team. We headed out. It wasn't far. Just on the other side of Grant. Miguel and I chatted on the CB as we drove slowly. Sure, we saw zombies. Quite a few but we were past them before they presented any problems or simply pushed them out of the way with the snowplow. Miguel was telling me that many more refugees had been found in their house-to-house searching. Some men, more women and children. Some were even walking in on their own. Still mostly women and children. Yeah, Cara had been dead on in her assessment of men being scarce.
"More women?" I had asked.
"Yes," he had replied, "I think we should consider a woman's barracks. Or you could snag a few more for your harem, Señor Jay," he quipped, "You have that very large bed, don't you?" Oh, he was such a funny guy. I replied, but to everyone present not just Miguel on the radio.
"Guys," I said, "Even one more and I'll turn into a zombie myself from lack of sleep." I let them laugh at my expense. Laughter was good for the soul. During all this banter, Cara was silent in the back seat. I snuck a peek at her through the rearview mirror and saw her smiling at me.
The human race is a very resilient species and the will to survive was strong in most of us as was the urge to procreate after a life or death experience. Many of the women had already started pairing up with unattached
men and I wasn't the only guy with two girls anymore. I had learned that after I got up this morning. Thank the Lord for small favors. That had presented other problems though. There really wasn't anywhere for them to go off to. Miguel had solved the problem by unofficially designating the largest travel trailer we had acquired as the harem headquarters. Four of the men and at least eight women had taken that over as their home in the early morning hours. Most of the kids still bedded down in the retreat, the house, and at RAC. The adults bunked wherever they could find space.
"By the way Miguel what about that well fed little mama I saw following you around yesterday? You and Rosita going to join the crew in the third camper?" I joked right back. I swear I could hear his eyes rolling in fear. I didn't need to be there. I knew Rosita.
"Cielo me ayuda!" He muttered then cleared his throat."My Rosita let me know my balls would be joining the meat pot if I even gave it a seconds thought." We all laughed. Rosita was five foot tall and maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet but she was a lightening rod. It would never occur to me to cross her. I'd be too scared of the consequences. I wished I had about ten of her also.
We stopped when we reached the outskirts of Grant. The place was teaming with zombies. We could see them milling around and a few had seen us and started in our direction. We were several hundred yards away so they posed no threat but looking at them, I just stopped counting. There were too many even as loaded down with guns and ammo as we were. We'd probably make it through with the snowplow clearing the way but I didn't want to chance it.
"Okay, were going to turn around and hit that last road and go west. The fuel farm is a mile or so that way, anyways." I had it marked on my map. All the roads in this part of Michigan were built on a one square mile grid pattern. We would head back around the slight turn and out of site then detour. Fuel was too critical. I needed at least two tankers of fuel. At five-thousand gallons apiece, two of them would see us through the winter easily, but I wanted four. I had plans. I had four men with us that drove rig in the past and could operate that damn fifteen-gear shifter they have, or however many it was. The fuel farm should have at least a half dozen tankers ready to go like they always did. I drove past there almost every day after all. Having the drivers I needed was amazing but in many ways not really.
Blood, Brains and Bullets Page 20