“Probably,” Evan told him. “You be careful. I’m proud that you’re doing this.”
“It’ll be a good learning experience,” Matt said.
It was a bit heart wrenching to see Cameron and Matthew leave. He still had three others from the original crew with him, and Mandy was a good group mate. However, she showed Evan hints that someday, things would grow to be much more.
‘Give it time,’ Evan thought. ‘She sees that you’re just as interested.’
“Evan,” Eric called out to him. He trotted over to meet Evan. “Thought you’d like to know, the two platoons have already left.”
“Thanks for letting me know,” Evan said.
“They’re ordered to help with whatever the survivors are doing,” Eric explained. “They are not to get in contact with any of the officers that may be alive. They will also avoid engagements against those officers until the rest of the company is up there.”
“Do you expect them to cause us any trouble?” Evan asked.
“I don’t know,” Eric said. “If it were me up there, I’d tell my troops to leave them alone. They made it this far, and those survivors are resourceful enough to survive this long against all the odds. I’d say live and let live, but its Colonel Hummsfeld and Captain Spelasky. I don’t know how their minds work.”
“You’re anxious,” Evan stated.
“That I am,” Eric replied. “I heard stories, and I don’t trust Spelasky. We need to get up there and secure everything, and not just against the reanimated.”
“What if the colonel ordered not to touch them?” Evan said speculatively. “Wouldn’t the captain obey the order?”
“No,” Eric said. He had a look that worried Evan. “Spelasky will be a target for my troops. He has to die. Not one of my men or women disagrees with that.”
“I don’t believe this,” Evan said. “We’re in a state of civil war in the middle of an apocalypse!”
“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Eric asked.
“I’m wondering when I’m going to wake up,” Evan said. “Why did so many soldiers go along with this? Why would so many disregard rational thinking and simply let it happen?”
“Why did our government create the kinds of weapons that we have?” Eric asked to further evoke Evan’s logic. “I’m just an officer to lead my soldiers against an enemy using those weapons, and I’m told not to ask why, but I was still given an answer. ‘We do this to protect our country.’”
“We protect our country by using this weapon against our own people?” Evan asked with dismay. “Then when the shit hits the fan, the answer is to kill millions more? That’s the answer. That’s a lot of fucking eggs to break to make a shit-tasting cake.”
“Amen,” Eric said. “That was brilliant.”
“It’s sickening,” Evan said. “I’ll destroy any biter that I come across without flinching, but I cannot be a part of this war.”
“Even if it they come after you?” Eric asked.
“They come after me, I’ll have no choice,” Evan replied. “I’ll defend my home, my family, and those survivors up there. I won’t take the fight to Spelasky. You should do the same.”
“Ok, I get what you’re saying,” Eric said. “I won’t do anything to bring danger to those survivors. We’ll focus on defense.”
“Thank you for taking care of Doug and John,” Evan said.
“You’re welcome,” Eric said. “We’re holding a small service for the two we lost. You’re encouraged to attend. It would be good to have the troops see you there.”
“I’ll be there,” Evan promised.
After the service for the two slain troops, Evan and Mandy ate with the soldiers in the mess hall. Evan joked around with most of the soldiers. He discovered that they were mostly influential kids in their late teens and early twenties. He was glad that Eric was in command, or they would have just been led to their deaths, or the crucifixes.
The conversations between them were light. They didn’t want to discuss that they may have to kill more of their kind when they get to Selfridge.
The geeky looking private who served as Eric’s personnel tech kept aggravating a large muscular soldier that would mop the floor with the scrawny private.
There were also plenty of civilians in the mess hall. Children ran around freely while parents chatted. People of all types filled the room. No one was excluded from joining in. According to the soldiers and other civilians, Eric and his closest advisors would walk around to chat with the soldiers and civilians regularly. Justin, Eric’s remaining son, was also present in the mess hall that night.
“There he is,” Private McBurdgen said when Eric walked into the hall. “He hates when those flakes follow him around like that.”
Eric was followed around by three men that looked geekier than Pete.
“Why is that?” Evan asked.
“They act like they’re doing something, taking notes, whatever, but they’re doing absolutely dick.”
“Brown-nosers then,” Evan said.
“Big time,” Frank Mason, a beefy private first class, said irritably.
Evan woke up to someone crying. He thought it was Mary at first. He was barely dressed now that he had the room to himself. He got up to turn on a light to the wall outside his room. Evan saw that the woman crying was Nikki. She sat against the wall, hugging her own knees. Her eyes were red from crying.
“Nikki,” Evan said quietly. “Come on in. Need to talk?”
“I’m so sorry,” Nikki said. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Don’t worry about it. Let me get some clothes on,” he said.
“You really don’t have to,” Nikki said. Evan wasn’t sure if she meant it to be as seductively as she said it, but her look told him she did. He wore baggy white cotton boxers that may have revealed more than he wanted to.
‘She’s a woman with good taste,’ Evan thought. ‘If she wants to look, she can look.’
“Do you want something to drink?”
“Do you have something to dull the pain?” Nikki asked, half-jokingly.
“I wish. I have water, and some PowerAde.”
“I’ll take water, thanks,” Nikki said. He grabbed two, and passed her one.
She patted the spot next to her.
“I was right about you,” she said with a strained voice.
“What do you mean?” Evan asked.
“I didn’t trust a lot of people, especially in the career I was in. There were too many glory hounds. But you, I liked you from the start. The way you allowed Matt into your life, and how well you treated the boys. How you and Doug clicked.”
“Doug almost felt like a long lost brother,” Evan said. “Matt was close to being lost, but I think I gave him an anchor. We need to work on him. Mary doesn’t need me, but you would be a good person to take her in as a student or something.”
“Honestly, at first I wasn’t exactly thrilled with you deciding to let him kill biters,” Nikki said. “The way you and Doug approached it was clever. I started thinking I’d allow Eliot to help out when he’s Matt’s age.”
“He shouldn’t have to. We need to focus on his survival and good nature. He can learn to defend himself, but not go out there,” Evan stated.
“Thanks,” Nikki said. “He’s going to have to grow up now without his father.”
“I guess the same pain I’m feeling is gripping you tonight tightly,” Evan said.
“Without mercy,” Nikki said as she was obviously feeling the same waves of grief that ebbed in Evan. “Doug really liked you too. We would pray at night, and we would say some of the people we were thankful for, and he began to say you.”
That statement stabbed Evan like a deep blade, and he choked.
“Evan, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Evan tried to get his emotions under control. His hands subconsciously gripped each other from stress and anger.
“You didn’t,” Evan said. “I can’t explain it, Nikki. I can’t fu
lly explain how much anger is burning inside of me. I feel things are falling apart, and too many good people are dead. That’s why I refused to let Edward get buried. I had him crucified.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do without him,” Nikki groaned. “Doug was everything to me. I know how you feel.”
‘Sadly enough, you do,’ Evan thought. ‘You don’t deserve it.’
“I wish you didn’t have to, Nikki,” Evan said at just above a whisper.
“You don’t have to worry. I’m going to help you with whatever way you need. I’m gonna be there for you and Eliot.”
“We’re both haunted by the ghosts of lost loves,” Nikki said.
“Yeah,” Evan replied. “Things may get worse before they get better, but I’ll be here for you all.”
Nikki rested her head on Evan’s shoulder.
“We better get some rest,” Nikki said. “We’re leaving in the morning, right?”
“Eric has a crew ‘prepping for redeployment’ right now,” Evan said, impersonating Eric’s voice. Nikki laughed at his attempt to cheer her up. “He’s a good guy, but he worries me that he’s looking for a fight. I asked him specifically not to go after this colonel and captain once we get home.”
“Will he listen?” Nikki asked.
“God, I hope so,” Evan replied. “We’ve seen enough. We’ve been through enough. He said they will defend us though if those lunatics attack.”
“You’ve inherited an army, Evan,” Nikki said with a faint smile.
“As long as I don’t inherit a war,” Evan replied.
It was time to go.
Eric placed Lieutenant Mueller in command of the fort. Evan listened to the conversation between the men.
“Thank you for the opportunity,” Jeff said. “I’ll retake Lawton and fortify it. We’ll use that as the main body to live in, and use Sill as a fallback point.”
“Good,” Eric said. “Keep sending out scouts for pockets of survivors. Don’t hang anymore people on poles. Just shoot them. I think we’ve made a big enough statement. Keep your eye on Fort Hood. We know there isn’t any activity there right now, but that can change at any time. Fort Leavenworth might also be active from the Kansas City wipeout. Infiltrate and recon, destroy the condemned.”
“Understood, sir,” Jeff said. “We’ll send out runners to keep in contact. We’ll also keep sending up platoons as we come across more legit company men.”
“Thank you,” Eric said with an outstretched hand. Jeff took it firmly. “Good luck, Jeff.”
“You too, Eric,” Jeff said. “Take back that city.”
It was a magnificent sight to see the line of sixty Humvees ready for the trip. The rumble from the engines shook the ground beneath their feet. Every third Humvee had a gun placement.
Evan let a soldier drive the luxury bus with Nikki, Eliot and Mary on board. Mandy left her car behind at Fort Sill to ride in the police SUV with Evan. Driving the truck was difficult at first for Evan, but he forced the emotions away. Daniel’s younger sister, Rheana, rode in the SUV.
The seemingly endless convoy of military and civilian vehicles started to move. Evan and Eric drove their vehicles near the front of the line. Ahead of them were two massive troop transports with gigantic reinforced plow blades to push off abandoned vehicles.
Tulsa had dozens of undead roaming around, but according to Eric, the city was green. Once the convoy was passed the Oklahoma state line, the road was unknown.
“All eyes open,” said Eric on his radio. “We might run into desperation out here. There’s no way of knowing if regular street gangs have turned into road bandits. Do not fire unless fired upon.”
Springfield, Illinois was plagued with biters. As the convoy drove on, soldiers that were stationed on the gun placements were granted permission to shoot down the undead. The roads quickly became littered with corpses. Not one biter got remotely close to a convoy vehicle. To avoid any snares, the convoy switched sides on the interstates to bypass the expected traffic graveyards. The convoy stopped for refueling once they were just outside St. Louis.
“I was actually surprised by how many biters were in Springfield,” Eric told Evan during the stop. “Every city from here to Indianapolis is green.”
St. Louis was identical to Springfield. The drive through the city was tedious. Other than hundreds of undead with the lower income neighborhoods, the people within the convoys were uneasy by frequent sightings of the surviving gang members that worried Eric. There was a checkpoint set up by a small crew of bandits where interstate 44 and 270 intersected.
Before half the convoy had passed, all of the bandits at the checkpoint were dead, and one of their vehicles burned. All because one man aimed his rifle at the number two lead truck.
“Toll taxes my ass,” Eric said on his radio.
“Come on, Eric,” Evan said. “He had tunnel vision. He must not have seen the hundred and fifty vehicles with us.”
“They’re forgiven for their misdeed,” Eric replied.
“Stuck on stupid,” Evan said with a laugh.
Evan had felt safe since the beginning of the run, but he now felt pity for those who tried anything against the convoy.
“We’ll likely face the same in Indianapolis,” Eric stated.
“We just checked, Eric,” a soldier said over the radio. “They weren’t armed with anything other than a few hunting rifles.”
“They might not know about the air national guard depot at the airport,” Eric said.
“Should we clear it?” the soldier asked.
“No, if they don’t have the keys, the armories will be secure.” Eric said. “Those pricks won’t have a clue where to look.”
Once passed the Mississippi River, another checkpoint stood in their way. The crew was smarter not to stop the convoy, but Eric wanted to talk to them. Eric approached the crew with a large host of guards. Evan also joined in. A man who went by the name Chief Dog was willing to talk civilly. He was a tall, beefy African American man with a blue bandana around his neck. He was escorted by a heavily tattooed molato man.
“Don’t you have better things to do?” Eric asked the leader of the crew.
“This keeps us busy, and them happy,” Chief said.
“What’s going on in St. Louis?” Eric asked.
“You don’t want to go in there,” Chief said with fear swelling from him. “It’s full of them demon people.”
“What about military?” Evan asked.
“They went, man,” Chief said. “They’ve been gone since the beginning, after they killed all those suckas in those shelters. We control some of the city, but that shit in there is whack.”
“Don’t you know how to kill them?” Eric asked.
“Do I look like a sucka?” Chief replied. “Best way is to stay the fuck away from them. We ain’t gonna try to fuck with them.”
“Let sleeping dogs lie, right” Evan asked Chief.
“Word,” Chief replied. “You’d give us an early Christmas if you gave us some of those guns you got.”
“You know we can’t do that,” Eric told Chief. “We have to protect these people we have. You got families with you guys?”
“A few of us do, why?” Chief said.
“There should be plenty of places for you to get better weapons,” Eric said. “None of your guns have a silencer, which means you’re holding dinner bells. How much ammo do you have?”
“Not much,” Chief replied squeamishly.
“Chief Dog, you disappoint me,” Eric said with a scoff. “If you want St. Louis, you’re going to have to fight for it. You have to check places like sporting goods stores, gun stores, Walmart.”
“Most of them are locked down,” Chief replied. “The rest have demons around them.”
Evan and Eric exchanged glances.
‘Stuck on stupid,’ Evan thought. ‘These guys are as good as dead.’
Eric seemed to know what Evan was thinking.
“Good luck out here, Chief,
” Eric said.’
“Wait,” Chief said when Eric and Evan turned to leave. “You cain’t just leave us. Help us!”
Eric turned sharply back to Chief Dog.
“You want our help?” Eric asked with acid in his voice.
“We need help, yeah,” Chief said.
“Who is that man?” Eric said, pointing at the molato man.
“A pain in my ass, and a rapist,” Chief said. “He rapes women that come through here, and leaves them for dead.”
The molato man gave Chief a look of betrayal.
“Do you deny his claims?” Eric asked.
“I, uh, yeah, no, what the fuck, Mark,” the man tried to say.
Eric gestured at the man, and three of his soldiers went to him. They forced the man to his knees. Evan didn’t watch the execution, but he wasn’t against it. He kept his eyes on Chief Dog, who appeared thankful for the deed.
“That’s step one for us to help you,” Eric said. “Crimes like rape and murder are intolerable. You can help recover this city. It’ll take work and time, but you can do it. Do you know of other survivors around the area?”
“There are small groups, but they stay away from us,” Chief explained.
“You need to gather them, and help them survive,” Eric told him. “Find a place that you can secure. Continue to have check points like this, not to collect taxes or steal from small groups, but to gather them. Money means shit. Create a trade hub, a barter system. Learn how to grow crops. Use a golf course and gather livestock. There are plenty of free domestic animals out there.
“You are no longer Chief Dog. You are now Mayor Mark of St. Louis. You can create something awesome here. You can help us by making a center point for survivors.”
Evan saw that Mark was listening.
“I’ll leave a squad here to help you get started,” Eric said. “They will help you gather weapons and supplies. They won’t answer to you, but they will work with you.”
“Thank you,” Mark said. “I’m in your debt.”
Evan noticed a change in the way the man spoke. He seemed to become more proper with his word choices.
Detroit Reanimated Page 23