“Roger that Sasquatch.”
I turned back to Athena and gave her a once over, because she seemed so familiar. An intense feeling that I had met her before, forced its way through me. She was tall for a woman, six foot something easily, with a model-like physique. I swore she had to be an Amazonian warrior of lore. I pulled up on the latch of the tailgate and lowered it down, offering the bombshell my hand. She took it and a spark flew between us. Images shot through my mind’s eye, of this woman and me on a boat in the ocean, another of us fighting alien looking ant creatures, and finally of us standing at an altar holding each other’s hands. I shook my head trying to clear the images and found that Athena was mirroring my actions. She caught my eye and mouthed “what the fuck”. I helped her down from the truck bed and we stood there holding hands, staring at one another. Thank God for Johnson, as he moved in and helped the other two down and out of the bed of the truck.
“I know you right?” she muttered out.
I reached up and flipped up the night vision goggles and pulled my helmet off. Just then the Humvees showed up and their headlights illuminated Athena. My heart picked up its pace, my breathing doubled, and I felt like I was going to swoon. Yes, big, bad ass, bearded, Sasquatch, Marines can swoon. If you don’t like that, you can go fuck yourself. Sincerely Semper Fi. I took her other hand and pulled her a little closer. Unspoken words flowed between us as we stood there.
“Hey Major, are you and that hot smoking blonde going to mount up? Or do you feel like fighting that group of zombies coming over from the other side of the road?” a Polish accented voice spoke up.
I turned my head and couldn’t see the other side of the interstate. It was darker than hell out there. I wrapped an arm around Athena’s shoulders and directed her toward my Humvee. As she climbed in, I turned toward the other Humvee and showed Cupcake he was still number one in my book. The bastard let out his big braying laugh, letting me know he loved me. After directing the drone to return and putting it on a badly need recharge, I climbed on top of the Humvee and slid into the cupola and pounded on the top. Apache put the Humvee in gear and soon, were once again moving north up Interstate I-5. The images I saw earlier sat heavy on my mind. I knew I had seen them before, it wasn’t until I felt myself nod off when the answer came to me.
A gift
I woke quickly snapping to and prepared myself for a fight, when I found myself on a boat near the island again. Adult Angel sat across, facing me. Tears at the corners of her eyes. I hated seeing anyone sad, but Angel’s emotions bled right through and into me. I felt myself start to tear up.
“What’s wrong Angel?”
“Dan, he is beyond me. I have lost my one true love,” she shook as she broke into sobbing.
I reached down and gathered her into my arms, holding her against my chest and smoothing her hair with my big hand. “Shh… We have not lost him dear. I will not allow it, I will fight and die for that man. Now tell me what is going on,” I spoke softly to her and she cried.
“I can’t see his spark anymore. He has been hidden from me.”
“Look at me hun,” she turned her head up to look into my eyes. “I need your help, if I am going to make everything work. Can you help me?”
She nodded her head slightly. “If it is within my power I will do what I can.”
“I need to know how Julie and Eugene are doing. I need to know where I can find them.”
Angel pulled away from me and looked up to the sky for a moment. A look of shock exploded onto her face. “I am being told there are three now, but one is not long for this world. Another will give their life when the time comes. Continue North through Oregon and over the big river. A place of where the Olympians dwell, awaits you and your people. You must not dwell, or rest. You must hurry.”
I was not sure how there could be three, when I only knew of two. What would I do if Julie was gone? How would I bring Dan back from the precipice of darkness and back into the warmth of the light?
“Send me back Angel. I must act swiftly and without mercy if I am to save our Dan,” I kissed her forehead.
“I will Brian. Oh, and I hope you enjoy the gift I sent you. Keep her close, you are going to need her,” she placed her hands on the sides of my head and gave me her best smile through the pain she was feeling.
Wow aint you a cute one
I awoke quickly and jerked my head up. I had fallen asleep sitting up in the cupola, the cold night air shook off the fog that sat heavily on my brain. I pulled out my tablet and checked our position on the GPS map. We were about to start climbing over the Shasta Pass. The time on the tablet showed that I had spent about four hours asleep.
I played the time I had spent with Angel, over and over in my head trying to figure out her cryptic riddle. I was to travel to the place the Olympians dwell, I wasn’t sure where that was, and it was annoying the fuck out of me. Also, who was this female gift Angel had sent to me? Could it be Athena? We did share that flash of…, well seriously, I have no idea what that was. I wish the internet was still up, because I would love to search this Olympian thing. I looked around at the scenery and read a sign announcing a rest area up ahead. A thought came to me, and I ducked back into the Humvee.
“Apache pull into that rest area up ahead.”
“You need to take a shit or something Sasquatch?” Apache turned her head back to me with a smile.
“Now that you bring it up, yes.”
“Got it, I will alert Cupcake. We could use a rest.”
I patted her on the shoulder and turned around to take in Johnson, nodding to him. He gave me a tired smile and flipped me off. The other man sitting in the rear, was from the truck we had saved earlier. I was confused, when I climbed onboard the Humvee, Athena had also boarded.
“Who the fuck are you, and where is Athena?” I asked.
He looked around looking for support from my bulking frame mean mugging him. He found none from Johnson, who shrugged his shoulders. “Uh, we pulled off the road two hours ago and jacked a big truck. Athena and some of those hard-looking fuckers from the other Humvees climbed in with her.”
I gave him the stink eye for another couple of seconds before breaking into a smile. “Good enough, so what is your name flyboy?”
“Mike,” he spoke with a quaver in his voice.
“Excellent. So, tell me flyboy,” I bored into him with a glare. “Can you shoot a gun? Or are you a panty waste my people will have to babysit?”
He gulped loudly and looked around again for help. Again, none was forthcoming. He reached into his shoulder holster and worked at trying to free his pistol, a Sig Sauer P320. I put my bear-sized paw out and pinned the gun in its holster.
“I didn’t say show me your piece. I asked if you could shoot a gun.”
“I haven’t shot my weapon in a year, but I know how to shoot it. I have to qualify on it every year.”
“So, you are a dangerous panty waster with a gun. Okay when we unass, you stay behind the giant black man next to you. If you pull your gun and hurt anyone of my people, I will tear your arms from your body and beat you to death with them,” I gave him a hard look. “Feel me, buddy?”
He nodded his head vigorously and moved his hand from his gun. “I understand.”
As we got underway again, I grabbed my venerable SCAR, and popped back up into the cupola. The sky was starting to lighten from the sun as it started to rise. We slowed to a crawl and maneuvered around abandoned cars and wrecks. I had a pain in the back of my head warning me about something. I squinted into the distance and a feeling of dread crawled up my spine. I panicked and pounded hard on the roof. My instincts forced my gun up and my eye sighted down the scope. I quickly glassed the vehicles and the O’Brien safety roadside rest area near Lake Shasta. I thought I saw movement up ahead, then I saw a figure carrying a large device, running out from behind a crashed bus with a semi-truck. I took aim and fired, not caring if this person was Ridder, an innocent, or zombie. I was going to kill anything th
at could cause a danger to my people. My shot clipped the person in their hip and they fell face-down to the pavement. Apache put the Humvee in reverse and we shot backwards to cover behind other vehicles. I climbed out of the cupola and over the roof of the Humvee, landing feet first on the pavement. Hase and Heaven appeared next to me weapons up and glassing our flanks.
“What did you see Sasquatch?”
“Someone with what looked like a LAW running from cover,” I had just finished speaking when someone up ahead started firing a heavy weapon. From the chattering sound of it and the damage it was causing to other wrecked cars, I pegged it as an old M60 belt-fed machine gun. This kind of gun in an amateur’s hand was a spray and pray kind of weapon. You just pointed it down range and hosed the area, praying you hit something. In this instance though, I took it as a feint to keep our heads down so they could pin us in place, while they sent others to flank us. I was about to throw a huge fucking monkey wrench into their plans.
“Okay someone put a couple of grenades down range, then split your team up and flank these assholes. I will take care of anything coming up the middle.”
“I like the way you think Sasquatch,” Heaven stepped back and swung his Heckler & Koch XM25 CDTE grenade launcher around off his shoulder and handed it to me. “I only have that one, five-round magazine available right now.”
I looked it over. I had never fired one before, it had come into service after I had left. “I’ll start dropping them in a minute so get your asses moving.”
Hase and Heaven split into two teams with Howser, Hunter, Dead Eye, and Kot. They moved off in sperate directions melting into the surrounding trees. I crouched down and moved across two lanes and behind a burnt-out Ford pickup truck. I popped my head up and zeroed in on the barrel of the M60 sitting on its bipod on top of a wrecked Camaro. I could fire directly on it and take out the gunner, but I wanted to buy the guys some time. I shouldered the XM25 and let the SCAR hang down on its sling. I triggered off a grenade to the left of the M60 and observed it arc up and then airburst fifteen feet off the ground, raining down deadly fragments. There was no way Heaven was getting this little toy back. I was in love with it. I adjusted my aim as I heard the cries of wounded and dying people, firing off to the right of the gunner this time. This grenade also airburst almost directly above them, and again screams echoed through the chilly pre-morning.
I put the XM25 on the ground by my feet, pulled my SCAR around and fired off four three round bursts in the direction of the machine gunner trying to keep his attention on me. My little plan worked way to well, as the gunner adjusted his aim and finding his mark against the truck I was currently hiding under. I dropped as low as my body would allow me and sucked pavement, hoping he would miss me and give time for Hase or Heaven’s team to take him out. The rounds skipped off the pavement all around me and sparked off the truck’s steel frame. The sounds of that gun will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life, since it seemed my life was probably going to end any second when one of those rounds would pop me in the head or spine. I tried to melt even more into the pavement when a staccato of controlled gun bursts broke through the chattering of the M60.
I picked my head up when the sound of the big gun stopped firing. I was trembling from the fear and adrenaline trying to escape my body at the same time. I moved to a sitting position and leaned my head against the swiss cheese-like grill of the Ford and closed my eyes. I have no idea how long I sat there trying to control my breathing and bring my pulse back down to a normal rate. A warm set of hands cupped the sides of my head. The thumbs slowly kneaded my temples. I opened my eyes and was met with the most amazing blue eyes I had ever seen in my life.
Blonde hair fell from a heart-shaped face, spilling over my shoulders and creating a tunnel where this woman and I became the only two existing people in a world of peace. Athena smiled at me, causing her pert nose to scrunch up, and the corners of her eyes crinkle with small imperfections. I have never been attracted to women, they have never held anything I wanted. But I had never met a woman like this before. She caused me in that moment to ask myself what love was. My answer to myself was, love is simply love, it knows no boundary, it asks for nothing, it simply is.
“Hey big guy, you okay?” she gulped down her emotions.
I took a couple of heartbeats to answer. “I am now,” I searched her eyes for something more.
“I hope you enjoy the gift I sent you. Keep her close, you are going to need her,” it was then Angel’s words came flowing back to me with such force I couldn’t catch my breath.
“I know you feel this, I can read it in your eyes. You saw the flashes, you felt like your heart stopped and then revved up to full speed. This inability to pull in a full lungful of air. That is the reason I had to leave the Humvee you were in. I had to make sense of this,” explosions and gunfire pulled us back toward reality from this intimately shared moment. Nothing outside of this little shared existence meant anything to either of us at that moment.
“I still feel it, but this is not the time. We will find time…” I dropped off speaking as she came forward and kissed my lips lightly and then quickly pulled away.
“Later then,” she pulled back and life sped up again.
I picked up my rifle and stood. I needed to get my head back in the game. No rounds came in my direction, so I took my chances and ran toward the enemy’s positions. I slid next to the blue cab of a Volvo VNL 740 semi-truck. I crouched low and came around the long hood and brought my head around to take in the battle ground ahead. Hase and Heaven’s teams were firing down to the rest area from behind overturned vehicles. No one had witnessed my arrival, yet giving me the time and advantage to move off the highway and down the bank toward the rest stop buildings unseen.
A line of men and woman dressed in tattered military uniforms fired up toward my people from behind sturdy wooden walls. Their walls have been splintered and holed in many places, yet they continued to fight on. I sprinted across the parking lot and baseball slid to the side of the bathroom. I pushed myself up to my knees and was in the act of moving my head toward the corner of the building when something hard was pressed into the back of my head.
“Lookee what we have here,” the voice sounded southern, but more hillbilly than redneck. “Stand slowly feller.”
I used the wall to keep my balance and stood to my full height. Somewhere below seven feet, last check was six-seven and change. The gun slipped from my head and down my back as I stood. The person had to be a lot smaller than me.
“Ooh wee, you are one tall sonabitch aren’tcha,” the voice whistled softly. “Turn-round son or I am gonna have to put some hot lead in ya.”
I could tell by the voice the man couldn’t be too far from me. I turned slowly hands up. As I completed my turn, I was surprised to see the size of the man dressed in military camo. He was small, like tiny. No more than four and a half feet. The M4 in his hands looked bigger than him. He saw the mirth in my eyes and a mask of fury exploded onto his face. Kind of making him look like an evil demonic Oompa-Loompa.
“Wow, ain’t you a cute one. I’d love to put you in my pocket and carry you around like a good luck charm,” I have no idea why I was aggravating the midget with the gun. I guess I had gained some of Dan’s craziness to needle people with weapons.
The little guy stepped forward and placed his barrel against my knee. “That will shut yer trap.”
I knew when to shut my mouth and a blown-out knee would certainly do that. Problem is I am not very good with orders. Most people underestimate me and my speed due to my big ass muscled body. I always used that to my advantage. I lifted my leg with the gun pressed against it and did a beautiful dancer’s spin. I came out of the spin and swatted the little bug against the bathroom wall. He was stunned, but his training had taken over as he raised the gun in my direction. I took three quick half steps, planting my left foot into the ground and delivered a flat foot kick. The bottom of my boot found its mark in the man’s chest, pushing h
is body flat against the wall. His hands opened, dropping his gun to its sling as his sternum snapped into splinters. The crack was loud like a dry thick branch. I felt my foot go further as his entire chest cavity gave way to the pressure I delivered in that kick. His eyes bulged out, his mouth frozen in a soundless scream. I pulled my foot back and turned quickly, looking for any other lookout guards. Finding none, I turned back to the little man. Blood was pouring from his nose and mouth, there was no way I could help him with that much damage.
I moved back to the edge of the building and took in the unfolding firefight. It looked like a standoff. I couldn’t have that, could I? I pulled the XM 25 around from my back and took aim at the soldiers firing on my men. I pulled the trigger and the grenade flew about twenty-five yards, before detonating in a large fireball that grew and grew and grew, setting everything around it on fire. The overpressure wave hit me, and I was amazed at the heat it put off, even at this distance. This had to have been one of those thermobaric grenades the troops were using in Afghanistan to clear caves. I think it was designated the XM1060. The guys like to call it Puff the Magic Dragon. I had never used one nor seen the immediate effects before. I loved this thing, Heaven for sure was never gonna get this one back. Now to find a warehouse filled with unshipped grenades.
As I thought about my new love affair with the launcher, my people came down into the rest area, mopping up the guards and stragglers. Heaven jogged up to me, and I prepared to fight to the death to keep my new love. He took in how I was cradling the weapon and gave me a huge smile.
“It is like having the hand of God in your back pocket. Do not worry Major, accept the weapon as a gift from your holy brother,” he patted my bicep.
“Thank you, Heaven,” I relaxed my posture and seriously thought if I could’ve taken this man. Something told me he would have cut me to pieces if I had attacked. “Report.”
Zombie Theorem: Dark Times Book Five Page 20