by J. W. Vohs
Buffalo lay at the far end of Lake Erie, and the hours stretched for the anxious people on the boats wondering what they would find at the settlement when they finally arrived. Shane had recovered from his harrowing escape and journey to Middle Bass, and he was busy sharing more information with the people who would be going ashore during the rescue attempt. He explained, “There are a number of places around the outer wall and the keep where we spaced our shipping containers far enough apart for an individual to squeeze through. Sarge called them “sally ports,” and told us that most ancient fortifications had secret exits where defenders could sneak out and hit the besiegers when they were least expecting it. Ours are gated and camouflaged, and nobody’s coming through one of them from the outside without the help of somebody on the inside. I escaped through one of these ports.
“Our fighters have about twenty sets of NVGs, if the batteries have held out, so at least some of our people could make it to the docks without going over the walls and making a bunch of noise. I don’t know if that’ll help us or not, but it’s something to consider. I have a flare gun with two flares, and I know we had several other guns inside the compound that Sarge said we could use to signal for help someday or use during a night attack if we needed to.
“We have some boats at the docks, and we usually keep them fueled and ready to go in case we need them in a hurry. I think with the boats you’re bringing from the island we can get all of our people loaded up, but ours are available if we need extra space. The big problem is gonna be keeping the hunters off of us while we evacuate. You guys won’t believe your own eyes when you see how many of them are there.
“The main wall of the fort is only about fifty feet from the edge of the docks, but the keep itself is probably a hundred feet inside of the wall. So we’d have to get the people holed up in the keep through all of the hunters now inside the main wall, and then down to the boats. We have plenty of berths on the docks for the yachts we’re bringing, so we don’t need to create a very wide corridor through the horde of hunters to get my people out of there.”
After Shane went silent for a long moment Marcus shared his thoughts. “When we evacuated the safe-houses in Noble County early in the outbreak we had to create escape lanes to get our people and vehicles out, but almost all of the infected were still zombies at that point. We still lost folks even then. Literally tons of weight hits your line when hundreds of the infected crush into each other and push in your direction. Even when you kill the ones in front, the others still push the dead weight onto you. With the numbers you’re talking about, and the fact that they’re all hunters with some degree of problem-solving ability, I really don’t think we can hold a corridor open long enough to get two hundred people out of this fort of yours, especially since they either have to squeeze through sally ports single file, or climb over the walls. Old folks, little kids, injured people, we ran into all of that when we conducted our evacuations. This is gonna be tough.”
“What did you guys do with the equipment you built your walls with?” Christy asked.
Shane shrugged, “We used forklifts and cranes to muscle all the shipping containers into place. We still have a crane sitting inside the outer wall where we added some more height after our visit from the government dude, or the bastard who claimed to be from the government. We actually got lucky by having it still sitting there, because we were able to use it to move containers over to block the opening that had been the back gate.”
A hint of eagerness crept into Christy’s voice, “Where, exactly, is the crane now sitting in relation to the lake?”
Shane thought for a moment, “Uh, I think it’s a little bit to the right if you were looking at the fort from the docks.”
“You think that’s where it’s at, or you’re sure?” Christy demanded as if she were cross-examining a witness.
Shane’s brow furrowed in concentration as he focused on remembering the crane’s position. “Unless it’s somehow been moved since I left, it’s where I said it is. When Sarge sent me out to the boat I crept through a sally port that opened toward the docks, and I remember that crane on my left as I picked my way through the hunters in the dark. Why does it matter where the thing is?”
Christy looked over at David, “If our diversion creates enough time and space, somebody could hop into that crane and drop a few containers in place so we’d have a bridge for the people to cross over from the keep to the outer wall. From there we could hold open an escape corridor to the docks.”
Everyone looked expectantly at Shane, who gave the briefest of smiles and said, “It could work. I know how to run the cranes, and so do plenty of people inside the keep. Maybe we’ve even got someone on one of these boats from the island who could run it—seeing as how I have a broken arm. Anyway, someone needs to be on top of the shipping container to connect the cable from the boom, and then it can be moved pretty quickly to where you want it to go. “
Gracie jumped into the conversation, “How long are the shipping containers?”
“Most of them are forty foot, with some twenties mixed in,” Shane replied.
“So if we bought you the time to move just three of them we’d have a bridge from the keep to the outer wall?” Gracie wondered.
Shane nodded, “Yeah, that’d do it.”
Gracie was excited now, “If most of the hunters are inside your main wall, we could probably hold open a corridor from the outside of that wall down to the dock. How tall are the shipping containers?”
“They’re eight feet tall. We built our outer wall two containers high, and the keep with three.”
Gracie nodded in concentration. “Okay, some of the hunters can pull themselves up on top of an eight-foot container if they find something to hold onto, and they could definitely grab a person and pull them off. People would have to evacuate single-file in the middle of the bridge, and fighters would have to be spaced along the edges to protect those who can’t use weapons. Your people have plenty of pikes?”
“Oh yeah, Sarge insisted that everyone learn how to use a pike to push hunters away from the walls in case of a big attack. There’s at least one for every person in there.”
“Good,” Gracie continued, “if we pulled the containers off of the keep that would make the walls on both sides of our bridge sixteen feet high. Your people would need ladders on both sides, and it would take time getting everyone up and down.” Now she looked dubious, “I don’t know if we’d have the time to use the bridge, even if we could make it.”
David suggested, “Maybe we could make the bridge two containers high, then we’d only need to find a way to get people down the backside of the outer wall near the docks.”
“We wouldn’t need the best fighters on the bridge if we did that, so we could have even more people defending the docks.” Luke added.
“Of course,” Christy commented, “this would all depend on creating an effective diversion that would draw most of the hunters away from the crane long enough for us to build that bridge. Plus, whoever’s operating the crane is gonna have a hard time getting out of there.”
Bobby had been thoughtfully listening, but now he shared his thoughts. “This is a damn crazy plan, so it just might work. A squad of soldiers laying down covering fire could create the space needed by the crane operator to escape the cab, and then they could pull him up onto the bridge with a rope—doesn’t have to be a suicide mission. You guys could also go ashore quietly and locate some vehicles, then drive them to the docks and create a form of that laager like the one we used at the church while I’m setting off explosions for our diversion.”
David slowly nodded after Bobby finished speaking, then shared his own opinion on everything he had heard. “This could work. I mean, a whole hell of a lot has to go right in order to avoid it becoming a complete fiasco, but evacuating two hundred refugees from a walled compound surrounded by thousands of starving hunters is an insane proposition no matter what the plan is. I suggest that as soon as we are in radio con
tact with Chad we bounce our ideas off of him and see what he thinks. I mean, his people are the ones most at risk no matter what we decide to do. Plus, he may have come up with some plan of his own, or conditions on the ground there may have changed since Shane left. Either way, we should be in radio range in a few hours so we’ll know more then. After we talk with Chad, we’ll all meet back here and decide on a final plan.”
Gracie asked, “Don’t you think it might be risky to broadcast our plans over the radio?”
“I suppose there is a risk,” David replied, “but I’m confident that the hunters haven’t mastered radio technology, and if there are humans directing them I don’t think they’ve had any reason to monitor civilian radio frequencies. People just aren’t much of a threat if you have helicopters and an army of flesh-eating monsters.”
“I agree that there is a small risk,” Shane offered, “but we need to coordinate with Sarge—Chad—and we can be careful about how we say things if necessary. I just don’t see how we can pull this off without updated information from the inside.”
“Makes sense,” Bobby agreed. “At this point, I really don’t think we have to worry about having our radio communications monitored, and if we do need to worry about it this little expedition should make that clear enough.”
David spoke up again, “So it’s settled—we’ll contact Chad when we’re in range.”
By late afternoon the small fleet was anchored a mile off shore, about ten miles west of Buffalo. Everyone anxiously listened as Shane worked to get the compound on the radio, fearing the worst until somebody finally answered after several minutes of nothing but static. The man on the other end of the connection knew who was calling as he simply said, “Thanks for coming back, Shane.”
“You know I wouldn’t leave you guys hanging. Hey, go get Sarge for me, there’s some things we need to talk about.”
“I already sent for him, should be just a minute or two. You find any help out there?”
“Yeah,” Shane guardedly reported, “but Sarge will have to fill you guys in after I talk to him.”
“Well, here he is.”
A booming voice came over the radio, “Damn glad you made it back, Shane!”
“I wouldn’t let you down, Sarge.”
“No, but you could be dead.”
Shane let out a sharp laugh before continuing, “Not yet, Sarge, not yet. Listen, I didn’t find an army on that island we talked about, but we’re approaching the neighborhood with some folks who know a lot about fighting the infected. I’m gonna put one of them on the radio right now.”
Marcus grabbed the mike, “So you have these poor bastards calling you Sarge, huh? Guess Chad wasn’t important-enough sounding for you!”
“Holy hell!” Chad shouted, “Marcus?”
“Yeah, buddy, it’s me, and I’ve got some back-up.”
Chad sounded like he was on the verge of tears, “My God, Marcus, how’d Shane find you?”
“It’s a long story, but I have Bobby Crane with me, and Jack Smith’s brother, and some other people who can fight as good, or better, than you or I can.”
“So Jack’s plan worked out, huh?”
“So far,” Marcus replied. “We’ve been in contact with some survivors, and a small group of us were travelling in the area when your man came rolling into port. We’ve come to help get your sorry ass outta there.”
“Well,” Chad wearily admitted, “we sure could use the help.”
Twenty minutes later everyone had their marching orders. Chad had agreed with the basics of the plan David and his fighters had come up with a few hours before. Zero hour would be midnight, at which time they all hoped that most of the hunters would be asleep or at least wouldn’t be at their most alert. Chad reported that at least a thousand hunters were milling around within the outer wall at any given time, but that smaller packs came and went throughout the day on what he assumed were food-searches. He wasn’t sure how many infected were prowling the neighborhood outside the walls of the compound, but assumed there were at least several thousand more in the immediate area.
He wouldn’t even consider putting any members of the rescue party at more risk than they were already facing by securing the docks. Once the diversions went into effect, he planned to lower his own crane operator over the side of the wall, as well as provide all of the aid and security the man would need while moving the shipping containers into position. If all went as planned, Chad would send a group of soldiers over the bridge as soon as it was in place with a wide ladder and the weaponry to help the rescue party hold the escape corridor to the docks. If the plan fell apart, everyone was expected to make for the boats after evacuating as many people as possible. He was certain that if his people stayed in the keep they would eventually starve anyway, so he preferred that everyone have a fighting chance while they were still strong rather than wait for certain death.
Two hours after sunset, and still three hours before midnight, the yachts from the island were within two miles of the compound. All of the fighters disembarked from the larger craft onto fishing boats equipped with electric trolling motors. While the vessels that were to be used for the evacuation drifted with the westerly breeze toward the docks, the soldiers were moving toward the places they needed to be in order to complete their assignments.
Marcus, Bobby, and two of the guardsmen were carrying their explosives and rifles to a point southwest of the fortress where they planned to create a diversion for the hunters not currently positioned inside the outer walls. David and the rest of the fighters were heading to shore closer to the compound, where Shane was going to direct them to a warehouse Chad had ordered to be used as a motor pool. From there they intended to drive SUVs and pickups the short distance to the dock nearest the outer wall and form their laager. The explosives crew was hoping to escape the area where they planned to draw the hunters to by returning to their boat and using it to reach David’s group in time to be of some use as reinforcements.
As David’s boat approached the darkened shore, he realized that ultimately the people trapped in the compound would have to escape the walls they’d built on their own. All he and his people could do was try to reduce the numbers of hunters around the fort and keep a corridor to the docks open for any refugees who cleared the walls. He was fairly certain that Marcus and Bobby would create their diversion and safely escape—they were veteran Rangers and experienced at fighting and killing hunters. As far as his small crew holding the laager they hoped to create, he wasn’t sure about the odds they would be facing. He knew they could kill dozens of infected, but hundreds of hunters who might be communicating with one another was another matter. As for thousands—well, he was hopeful that at least some of his group would live long enough to jump into Lake Erie and swim for it.
Chapter 13
David looked at his watch through the NVGs, seeing that the long hand rested one minute from midnight. He gazed around the interior of the warehouse where the settlement stored vehicles and saw that his people were all in place. Christy sat in the driver’s seat of the Ford Expedition David was standing beside, and right next to him were Luke and Gracie inside a Jeep Grand Cherokee. With thirteen fighters plus Shane, the group was planning to drive eight vehicles out of the building five minutes after the diversionary tactics began. If all went well, they would find the route to the back of the compound clear enough of hunters to set up their laager and take defensive positions around the makeshift escape corridor to the docks. At the same time, the yachts from Middle Bass would be coming into the quays and preparing to receive the refugees from the compound.
The plan was complex, and if David had learned anything since the outbreak began, it was that most operations began to deviate from the plan the minute the fighting began. This time they would need most everything to go right or a lot of people were going to die. Christy must have sensed his worry because she reached over and patted his leather-clad arm with her Kevlar-gloved hand and whispered, “It isn’t as if we
could just do nothing, baby. We have to try to rescue these people, and they’ve managed to get themselves trapped really tight. All we can do is try to give them a way out, and then pray they’re able to escape from their own fort.”
David frowned, “The plan is too complicated. Maybe if we were all SEALS, in constant communication with one another and with the best of equipment . . . As soon as things start to go wrong it’s all gonna fall apart fast, and then it’s gonna be a massacre.”
He looked over at Luke, and the teen was staring at him with his usual intensity, but there was a melancholy air about him as they waited for the fighting to begin. David stepped over to the open window and quietly asked, “You two ready for this?”
Gracie nodded and gave a slight, nervous smile, while Luke looked away for a moment before turning his gaze back to David. “Get as many of their people onto the boats as you can, but when the situation becomes obviously hopeless you and Christy get out of here. This guy, Chad, shouldn’t have let his people be trapped like this.”
“Hey, given what we all saw happening when the outbreak began this wasn’t a bad idea. I mean, Jack did the same thing.”
Luke just shrugged, “Yeah, he did. Fixed defenses are fine as long as you leave yourself a way out. When the Athenians fought the Spartans they built a wall down to their port so they could escape if they needed to. And some years before that, they evacuated the city and let the Persians have it for a while until they beat the crap out of their navy and forced them to retreat. A general can’t let his army get trapped in their defensive positions; that’s an ancient truth, and this guy forgot about it.”
David gave Luke’s shoulder a squeeze, “I think you’ve been hanging around Jack too much; I swear, you sound just like him.” He studied the expression on Luke’s face: the set jaw, piercing stare, one eye squinted just ever so slightly, “Jeez, you’re even starting to look like him . . .” Then a distant memory struck David like a thunderbolt—it was the homecoming dance for Jack’s senior year of high school and David was trying out his new camera on his older brother and Jack’s beautiful high school girlfriend, Maggie. The girl in the picture. The woman in Luke’s picture. Jerry had adopted Luke when the boy was young; Luke’s mother, Margaret, had said she’d lost Luke’s father to the war . . .