by D. J. Molles
Lee found it hard to smile at the story. “At least you have a sense of humor about it.”
“Nope.” Jack wiped a bead of sweat from his nose. “I really was lucky. It was a coordinated attack. We were in the lead Humvee and the IED they used on me was supposed to be for the guys in the rear of the convoy. About a mile down the road, they find a guy sitting in a pickup loaded with enough explosives to turn us all into jelly. The guy in charge of setting off the IED fucked everything up. If he hadn’t blown the IED early, the guy in the pickup truck would have pretty much incinerated us. So now, I thank my lucky stars that God’s merciful and the hadjis are incompetent.”
Lee actually chuckled for the first time in a while. It felt good.
“What about you, captain? How’d you do your time?”
“Well, my butter bar years were spent in Iraq, in a Humvee, patrolling Baghdad.”
Lee downplayed his own history, because swapping war stories wasn’t the reason he wanted to talk to Jack. “I did that for two tours, and then they gave me captain and offered to build me a house and a bunker and all I had to do was be prepared to rebuild civilization at the drop of a hat.” Lee’s voice was good humored, but sarcastic.
Jack nodded. “All in a day’s work, my friend.”
They walked for a long moment, at which point Lee asked, “So how long has it been like this?”
“Like what?” Jack looked around. “Hot and humid?”
Lee reworded the question. “When’s the last time you saw a cop? Anyone from FEMA? Any members of the military still working for the government?”
“Aah...” Jack gave him a weird look, like he was picturing something else while looking at Lee. “Last cop I saw was when I was makin’ my way through Clinton, about two weeks ago. Him and about thirty infected chasin’ him. He ran around a corner. Don’t know what happened after that.”
Lee and Jack walked in silence for a moment, wondering if the cop had made it. Probably not. Jack continued. “Then I saw three helicopters, comin’ outta Raleigh area about two days later. Flyin’ low and fast. One was smoking pretty bad, but I never saw if it went down. After that, all I seen are infected and bands o’ thugs like yesterday.”
Angela had made her way up to the men. “I saw a cop about a week ago when we tried to go to the store and buy some food. He had his shotgun. I remember him because I’ve never seen a police officer look scared. He was pulling out as we were pulling in. Stopped and told us that the store was closed. Then he drove off real fast.” She paused for a long moment. Her voice became quieter. “We could hear screaming from inside, though, but all the doors were boarded shut. We think they locked a bunch of infected inside. We went home after that.” Angela tried to put on a smile that didn’t fit. “Ate canned green beans and corn by candlelight because the power was out...we joked around that it took the power going out for us to have a candlelight dinner together...”
Lee and Jack exchanged a glance. “How long has the power been out?”
Angela seemed to realize he was talking to her and snapped out of her memory. “Um...maybe a week and a half ago? It’s hard to tell. The days kind of run together.”
Jack’s eyebrows narrowed at Lee. “Wait...do you have power?”
Lee looked at the two expectant faces staring at him. “Yes. My house and my bunker are wired to a battery bank. It’s trickle charged by solar panels throughout the day.”
“So...” Angela looked like she was thinking it was too good to be true. “...When do the batteries run out?”
“They don’t. The solar panels recharge them.”
“So you have power indefinitely?”
“Pretty much.”
The look on Angela’s face could almost be called wonder. “Like...air conditioning and everything?”
“Air conditioning, hot water, you name it.” Lee smiled at Angela and Jack who were looking at him like he was St. Peter taking them into heaven. “Being down there, it’s almost like the old world.”
“I’m taking a hot shower.” Angela declared, as though checking something off of her bucket list.
Jack smiled wistfully. “I’m gonna have a big ol’ glass of cold water.” He looked at Lee. “Assuming you have a fridge.”
“Yup.” Lee switched topics. “I need to really talk to you both about what’s been going on. Keep in mind that, while I have some nice supplies, you guys are the ones with all the knowledge. I need you both to bring me up to speed.”
“Sure.” Angela shrugged. “What do you want to know?”
“Either of you seen that group of guys from yesterday?”
Angela shook her head, but Jack’s face just sneered. “You mean the cocksuckers that stole all that military equipment? Yeah...I seen ‘em before.”
“I guess that answers my next question.” Lee shifted his pack. “Obviously you think they’re civilians that raided an armory.”
“Or took out a guard unit and stole their shit. National guard was all over this place about a week and a half ago. Had choppers flying everywhere and Humvees escorting busloads of evacuees to FEMA camps.”
Angela spoke up, but seemed to speak quietly, like she didn’t want to piss Jack off. “They seemed like military to me.”
Jack’s face screwed up. “Listen, honey...”
Lee decided to interrupt before another argument erupted. “I think she has a point, Jack. I agree that the majority of them look like they don’t know what they’re doing, but there were a few that moved like soldiers.”
Jack was silent. Lee continued. “Have you heard of any units going rogue?”
The older marine was quiet for a long moment as they trudged along. “I s’pose it’s possible, but I haven’t heard nothin’ ‘bout any particular unit going rogue. Maybe we should ask them next time.”
Lee patted him on the shoulder once. “I’ll leave that to you. Whatever they are, what have you heard about them?”
“Well,” Jack shifted the strap of his rifle. “I’ve heard all kinds of things from people I come across while gettin’ here. Some folks say they’re out rapin’ and murderin’. Others are saying they’re going around looking for people that will offer them supplies so they can continue their mission, which is to ostensibly eliminate everyone that’s infected. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I think they probably have it in their head that they’re going to put a dent in this epidemic by wiping out the infected population, and that they’re going around ‘requesting’ donations from people. Maybe they get a little heavy-handed if donations aren’t made. Maybe they get a little jumpy with the trigger sometimes.”
Lee snorted.
“Like a protection racket.” Angela spoke up. “That’s sick how people take advantage of situations like this.”
“There’s a power-vacuum,” Lee stated. “Every yahoo with a gun and something to prove is going to be trying to fill that void. Some are going to be worse than others.”
Angela looked right at Lee. “But you’re not one of them?”
Lee tried not to take offense. He smiled instead. “I’m not a ‘yahoo with a gun.’ I’m a member of the United States military. And I’m not looking for power either. Just trying to help.”
Jack stopped walking.
The two girls stopped close behind him, and Lee immediately brought his rifle to a low-ready and scanned the trees. “What’s up?”
Jack’s head was lifted skyward just slightly, and Lee thought he heard him take a deep breath through his nose. “You smell that?” he asked.
Lee took a moment to sniff the air and caught it. “Smells like something’s burning.”
Jack nodded. “Wind’s blowing from the east a bit. Doesn’t smell good...not like woodsmoke.”
Lee knew the scent quite well. He’d smelled it several times during the Iraq invasion. It was the smell of artificial products burning, like plastic on fire. It was a rank, noxious smell when you were up close, but now it only tinged the air. When he smelled it again he thought of
dusty streets, everything in sandy desert tones, walls close in and high up, dark windows staring down, everything tainted with the residue of smoke and pock- marked with bullet holes.
Everyone was silent for a long minute, considering what this meant, like they were all seers watching a hawk fly by, determining the secret omen it bore.
Lee turned slightly to the left and pointed. “The road should be that way.” He began walking in that direction. “We should cross now.”
Without argument, the other three followed.
CHAPTER 12: HOME AGAIN
It didn’t take long for them to reach the road.
In more normal times, Lee had walked these woods for pleasure and exercise. He’d always find his way back to the road by the sound of cars passing by, like the sound of a river. Now the road was empty and silent and Lee almost stepped out onto the asphalt before he realized he was there.
The party stopped just inside the wood-line. Past the trees, the shoulder of the road rose slightly to the asphalt. Jack offered to check it out, and Lee deferred. He knelt down, Angela and Abby hovering close behind him, while Jack low-crawled up to the road to survey in both directions.
“How far is your house, mister?” Abby whispered.
Lee looked both directions down the road, but being in the woods had disoriented him to what section of the road this was. He could be a mile from his house, or ten. Luckily, he’d been keeping steady track of the amount of time they’d been walking, and ran some quick numbers in his head.
“Rough guesstimate...maybe two miles?”
Abby didn’t answer. The kid was being a trooper hanging in there, but when a kid didn’t complain, you had to wonder what was wrong. Lee’s best guess was that she was so tired and dehydrated that she didn’t have the energy to complain. Her body and her mind were in survival mode.
He turned and looked at the two girls.
Both of them looked rough, to say the least. The few bottles of water he’d been able to give them would have barely hydrated them in the state they were when they came off the roof, and certainly not now after a day of hiking. He noticed that Angela was massaging her thigh and he suspected muscle cramps.
He needed to get an IV in both of them. They couldn’t go on like this forever. He was pretty sure they could make it to the house, though. And then he could rehydrate them and get them back into working shape.
A quiet whistle drew his attention back to the road.
Jack was still on his belly, on the shoulder of the road. He looked back at Lee and gave a thumbs up.
Lee turned back to the girls. “You guys ready? We’re almost there.”
They both stood slowly and Lee motioned them forward. Angela jogged with her little girl across the road and disappeared into the woods on the other side. Lee waited until they were safe in the woods, then crossed quickly, Jack following closely behind. They continued into the woods until they could just barely make out the black top, and then turned due east, heading once again in the direction of Lee’s house.
As they walked, Lee noticed that the acrid smell of burning materials had grown slightly stronger. There was a slight haze hanging in the forest, but he could not tell if it was light smoke or the last bit of due burning off in the warming sun. He kept his observations to himself, as he did not believe they would serve any purpose but to worry the others. In his mind, he pictured his house burning to the ground, encircled by raiders dressed in leather, like extras out of Mad Max, all laughing and chanting like Indians around a bonfire.
They had hiked approximately another 200 yards when Lee heard what he initially thought was someone shouting, but then immediately recognized it as barking. Specifically, Tango’s barking.
“Whoa,” he held up a hand and everyone stopped walking. They all stood in the middle of the forest, straining eyes and ears for any signs of danger. “That’s my dog.”
“How can you tell?” Angela asked.
“I know Tango’s bark.”
“Thought he was in your bunker.” Jack spoke almost under his breath, as though he was pointing something out that would anger or embarrass Lee.
“He was.” Lee nodded. “If he’s out, the kid’s out.”
No one spoke. Tango barked three more times, and Lee realized he was getting closer. They were upwind and Tango had sniffed his master out. That was all good and well, but why the fuck was he outside to begin with?
The dog burst through a sheen of thick brush and came running full speed for Lee, tail circling wildly behind him like a propeller. Lee was glad to see Tango fine but he couldn’t help feel a greasy feeling of dread. Where was Sam? And what had happened?
He held up a hand and bent down to one knee as Tango approached, slowing to a trot, then coming to a halt before his master, tail sweeping an arc of leaves from the forest floor behind him. Just happy to see Lee.
Lee gave him a quick scratch on the head and then looked up to the woods. He didn’t have to wait for long before he saw a small, skinny figure running toward the group in that awkward prepubescent manner. Sam saw them, waved once, but then kept looking behind him, as though he were being pursued.
“Fuck...” Lee held his rifle at a low ready. “Something’s wrong.”
“Yep.” Jack apparently had come to the same conclusion.
Lee didn’t know what to expect from Sam, but the kid ran up and latched onto Lee, clinging around his waist, and it broke Lee’s heart. He wasn’t this kid’s father. He couldn’t be that person for him, and didn’t have the time even if he wanted to. This was survival, not a Social Services visit.
“Sam, what happened?” Lee asked sternly.
The kid was out of breath. He kept glancing back into the woods. He spoke between gulps of air. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. We thought you were dead.” Sam’s voice broke as he said the last part.
Damnit... Lee was trying not to be angry. “Why aren’t you in the bunker?”
“I took Tango outside so he could go to the bathroom. Then some Army men came. I was scared. They didn’t look nice. We hid in the woods, and they went into your house. They took everything out. Then they set it on fire.”
Lee stared down at this pathetic kid clinging to him like a life-raft. He had the sudden urge to give the kid a solid upper-cut and send him sprawling into the dirt.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Lee said without thinking.
“Captain!” Angela hissed behind him.
Immediately tears sprang into Sam’s eyes and Lee regretted yelling at the kid, though he was still pissed as hell.
“I said I was sorry.”
Sorry doesn’t stop my house from burning down, you little shit! But Lee kept it to himself this time. He removed the kid from his leg—perhaps a little roughly—and pushed him into Angela’s arms. “Watch him. And don’t go anywhere.”
He looked at Jack. “You’re with me.”
Jack silently nodded and the two men took off at a run.
***
The haze in the trees was thickening and above the forest canopy Lee could see a dark column of smoke rising into the sky. The smoke was dark tendrils and light-gray mixing together like cloudy, boiling water. Strange memories from old science classrooms: black smoke from petroleum products, white smoke from plant products.
“Captain...” Jack slapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.
Lee slowed and stopped behind a cluster of trees. “What?”
Jack wiped sweat from his eyebrows. “What if they’re still there?”
Lee considered the odds. “If we take them by surprise and hit them hard, we can probably take out about six or seven.”
Jack didn’t look convinced.
“If you can get a good hide, I can start taking out any heavy weapons or vehicles they have.” Lee indicated his 40mm grenades, of which he had three left. “Attentions on me; you take out the survivors.”
“If your house is burned down, there’s no point in attacking them. It’s all risk and no reward.”
>
Lee knew Jack was right. “Fine. I’m comfortable saying we can take out five. If there’s more than five, we’ll leave it.”
Jack seemed to chew it over. “Alright. But give me some time to scout it out.”
“Agreed.”
They started moving again, this time slower, watching their footsteps and gliding through the woods nearly without noise. When they had drawn closer to the house and the smoke was palatable, Jack motioned Lee to remain while he crept quietly forward. Lee took cover behind a large tree and settled down at the base of its trunk, watching Jack move forward like a big cat prowling.
The skeletal man slid easily through the woods, nearly to the point that Lee could not see him. Lee could tell that the woods opened up just ahead of Jack’s location, and at certain angles Lee thought he could see his house.
He watched Jack stand very still for several moments, then settled very slowly to the earth, propping his rifle up on a fallen log and scanning the area through his scope. Jack made four very careful, very slow arcs across his field of view. Lee watched impatiently, wondering how long the sniper was going to take.
After what was probably close to five minutes of complete silence, watching Jack reconnoiter the area, the sniper looked back in Lee’s direction and motioned very slowly with his hand to move forward, then patted the air just above the ground, indicating Lee should move stealthily.
Lee moved out of his cover smoothly and made his way towards Jack at a steady glide. When he got within about ten feet of Jack, he lowered his body to the ground and low-crawled up shoulder-to-shoulder with Jack. From his new vantage point, much closer to the edge of the woods, Lee could see his house.
Or what was left of it.