Things finally calmed down enough that I was able to take a jeep and drive down the fence line. Going from station to station congratulating the men on a job well done. I found Sergeant Adams and the two of us drove to the helipad and waited for the return of the two helicopters. I still hadn't seen Lily and was beginning to get a little anxious. Not a little anxious a lot, I hadn't been able to get her off my mind since that kiss. Lieutenant Price set down his chopper. The Private I only knew as Ken jumped from the Chinook and ran to the Sergeant and me. He stopped in front of me, saluted, then grabbed the Sergeant in a bear hug, lifting him off his feet.
“We did it Sarge.”
“Put me down god dammit.”
“Sorry Sarge. We did it though, we did it. We stopped those bastards.”
“Yeah we stopped them. You did a good job up there kid. Now go somewhere and calm your ass down before I kick it.”
Even though he sounded pissed off, I could tell by the smile on the Sergeant's face the kid's enthusiasm was contagious. Hell I even had a big grin across my face. It was true. We had stopped the horde and if we hurried, we just might get out of here alive. Lieutenant Price came over saluted and instead of saluting back, I reached out and shook his hand.
“You saved our asses back there Lieutenant. If you wouldn't have come to the rescue when you did, they would have made the fence.”
“Lieutenant Mercer saved you, not me. When he got back and saw how close to the fence the zombies were, he radioed me and told me of your situation. That's what brought me back. I was so busy trying to keep them from getting to the trenches I hadn't even noticed how bad things had gotten on your end.”
“Either way, those big guns turned the tide. The towers are too far back and too high. They weren't as effective as I thought they'd be.”
“If we mounted those machine guns on jeeps and sent them out on the other side of the fence I think it might work out better sir.” Sergeant Adams said.
“We're getting the guns out of the towers alright. But we're not sticking around for the next horde.”
“What's the plan sir?”
“I was thinking we should head north and try to avoid that other horde. Then we're heading west. I want to load some fuel for the choppers. Use them for air support and reconnaissance.”
“Sounds good sir,” Lieutenant Price said. “But command contacted me during the fighting. They want one of the choppers to pick up a Dr. Parks and fly him out to one of the aircraft carriers”
“Where are they holding him?”
“Holding him? They didn't say he was a prisoner. Just wanted one of us to go pick him up. I told them what was going on here. They told me to break off and head south.”
“Then why are you still here?”
“My radio malfunctioned. Been having shit loads of problems with communications the past few days sir.”
“Is that why Lieutenant Mercer hasn't returned? Did they send him?”
“No sir. He's having radio problems too. They're checking further north. Seeing if anything else is headed this way from that direction.”
Something occurred to me. “Who's with him?”
“Corporal Flowers. She's murder on that fifty caliber.”
“Can you get that radio fixed and get them back here?”
Lieutenant Price looked at Sergeant Adams and then at me. “Sir, my radio works just fine. I'll get hold of them now.”
“You were right Captain. You've got a lot to learn,” Sergeant Adams said as he followed the pilot back to the chopper.
The Lieutenant radioed the other chopper and told the pilot I wanted them to return to the airfield. A few minutes later the Chinook landed. Corporal Flowers and the pilot came over to where the Sergeant and I were talking. Lily had a big smile on her face. Even though I had been worried about her and was now pissed off that she had gone off like that without telling me, I couldn't help but smile back at her.
“Corporal, next time you decide to do something like that, let me know. I had no idea where you'd gone off to. The Sergeant and I were worried about you.”
“I wasn't worried about you. I figured you'd show up eventually. Besides I saw you get on the chopper.”
“You should have told me Sergeant.”
“Sorry sir. I thought you knew.” He said with a smile.
“What's so funny Sarge?” Lily said. “Captain, somebody had to get on that gun. I was right there so I went with him.”
“Understood. Lieutenant, great job. Both of you.”
“Thank you sir. Did Price tell you we had a communication from command?”
“Yes. Did you get the whole message? Or are you having trouble with your radio too?”
He smiled and exchanged a look with Lieutenant Price. “I got the whole thing sir. Seems to be receiving fine. Having trouble replying sometimes though.”
“Well I'm glad you stuck around, both of you. I just hope you don't have radio troubles when I need to reach you.”
“Understood Captain. They've been chewing on my ear the entire time. The General's hopping mad. He wants that Dr. picked up and flown to the carrier ASAP.”
“What's the location?”
“Don't know sir. He said he'd give me the coordinates in route.”
“Sergeant, get the men together. Leave the sharp shooters in the towers. But get the rest of them over here. As soon as we can get prepared, we're getting everyone out of here. Lieutenant, I'll be going with you.”
Chapter 11
Progress was slow the rest of the day. I spent a lot of time on the wench pulling abandoned vehicles out of our way. We even had to back track once to get around a huge pile-up blocking both lanes of the highway. A tractor trailer had jack-knifed across the road, tipped over on top of two cars, and caught fire. The metal from the truck and cars was fused together and we weren't able to pull the wreckage from the road. A guardrail ran down the center of the highway and the right shoulder was too steep to try getting the U-Haul through. Gina used her maps to get us around the wreckage. The detour added a few hours to the trip and it was getting late in the day so we decided to try and find a place to spend the night.
I wasn't in the mood for a repeat of the events from the night before so I suggested we find a quiet place off the highway, have something to eat, and spend the night in our vehicles. This idea was met with shouts of disapproval and a big thumbs down from Gina. When I reminded everyone of how we had to shoot our way out of the last house we'd spent the night in, their rejections changed.
“I guess sleeping in the Hummer wouldn't be so bad. Will you guys be okay in the truck?” Gina asked into the radio.
“We can throw some sleeping bags down in the back. It will be dark soon anyway. Steve's right. We'll get off at the next exit. Over.” Al came back.
We got off the highway and headed north. There was a town five miles from where we were but the immediate area was very secluded. Al turned off the main road onto a gravel driveway. A large farmhouse was about a quarter mile down the drive but we weren't going anywhere near it. Al turned the U-Haul around so he was facing back towards the road and I did the same. That night we dined on canned tuna, Vienna sausages, and canned green beans. It was a meal fit for a king. Rick went to the truck for the night. He slept in the cab, Al and Cindy stretched out in the back, and Gina and I laid the seats back in the Hummer and spent the night there.
Just after dark, I was awakened by a tapping sound on my window. A tall thin man was standing beside the Hummer holding a shotgun. The barrel was pointed at the ground and he didn't appear too threatening so I got out to see what he wanted.
“What you all doing?”
“Just trying to get some sleep.”
“That's our house down the road. It's not safe out here. Them things might show up.”
“You had much trouble out this way?”
“Oh yeah, my neighbor, Bill Parsons, tried to get my wife and kids today. Had to shoot him.”
I looked behind the man and Al w
as standing there. He had his rifle but wasn't pointing it at the man.
“What's up, Steve?”
The man looked back at Al. “That's a nice gun. Look, you can sleep here if you want. We don't want any trouble.”
“Neither do we, sir. Sorry if we scared your family.” Al said.
“No, you didn't scare us. I figured if you were looking to do us any harm, you'd have come up to the house. I was just wondering who was out here.”
“My name's Steve and this is Al. In the truck over there is Cindy and Rick. That's Gina sitting in the Hummer.” Gina waved at the man.
“My name is Calvin. People mostly call me Cal though.”
I reached out and shook his hand. “It's nice to meet you, Cal.”
“You folks can come up to the house if you want to. We're kind of crowded with my bother's family staying with us but I imagine we could make room.”
“No thanks Cal. We don't want to disturb your family any more than we already have. If you don't mind, we'll just stay here.”
“If that's the way you want it. You all come up to the house in the morning. We'll see about getting you some breakfast.”
“Thank you. That would be real nice. I guess we'll see you in the morning.”
With that, Cal turned and walked back to the house. Al gave me a dirty look and stood shaking his head.
“What?”
“You try sleeping in the back of that truck. It's hotter than hell back there. I might have liked to sleep in a bed tonight.”
“Well, go catch him if you want.”
“Good night.”
Al turned and went back to the truck. I got in the Hummer, kissed Gina, and drifted back to sleep. I wasn't hot at all. Both windows were open halfway and there was kind of a nice breeze. Tough shit, Al.
I woke the next morning to the sounds of laughing children. Sitting up, I looked down the long drive leading to the house. A group of children were playing in the yard surrounding the house. There were kids running around everywhere chasing dogs, being chased by dogs, and rolling on the ground with dogs.
“Kind of sweet, isn't it?” I heard Gina say.
“Good morning honey. How did you sleep?”
“I slept well enough. How about you?”
“I slept like a rock.”
“How many kids does that guy have? Looks like there's enough for a football team; offense and defense.” Gina said with a smile.
“That is a hell of a lot of kids. The guy's name is Calvin. He did say his brother and his kids were also here. That's still a lot of kids even for two families.”
“Are we taking him up on his offer for breakfast?”
“I don't know. Let's go see what the others want to do.”
We went over to the truck. The lift gate was locked from inside so I knocked on the door. I stood waiting for a minute then beat on the lift gate a little harder. I could hear movement inside and the back of the truck flew open. Al was standing at the back of the truck in his long underwear glaring down at me.
“Jesus Christ. I heard you the first time. Have you ever heard the song 'If the van is a rockin, don't bother knockin?'”
“Yes I have and I think it goes 'don't come a knockin.'”
“Whatever you say.” Al stood there looking around. His gaze finally came back to Gina and me. “What?”
“You getting ready to put up a tent?” Gina asked.
Al looked down. “Oh. Yeah. You want to come help me?”
I started laughing. Gina slapped me on the shoulder and said, “Why don't you go give him a “hand” with that.”
Al howled. “That was a good one Gina. I'll be down in a minute.” He closed the back of the truck. Gina and I went to the cab of the U-Haul to check on Rick. I climbed up on the running board and looked in. Rick wasn't there. I stepped down and looked around.
“Rick's not in there.”
“Here I am.” Rick was coming towards us from the small stand of trees by the drive. “Good morning.”
“How did you sleep?”
“I slept fine until a while ago. Those two have been going at it for the past hour. How old is Al anyway?”
“Believe me, he's not that old.” It was Cindy. She and Al came walking around the back of the truck.
“Still sporting some wood big fella.”
“You need to quit looking at my crotch little girl.” Al pulled his shirt out so it covered the front of his pants.
“I'd have to agree with Al on that.” I said.
Gina turned around and walked back to the Hummer. “Let's go get some breakfast before you poke someone's eye out.”
We drove down to the house. As we pulled up, our vehicles were surrounded by kids and dogs. Calvin came out of the house and introduced us to the kids. There were fifteen in all. By the time he was done, I could only remember two of the names; Stevie and Cindy. Go figure. We went inside and met Cal's wife; Lisa, his brother; Dillon, and Dillon's wife; Chris.
“The kids already ate.” Cal looked around the kitchen. “So you need to get your little butts outside.” They all filed silently out of the room except for the littlest girl, Cindy.
“Daddy, I'm still hungry.”
“Well, then you'd better come on over here and get some more pancakes, sweetie.”
She went with Calvin to the table, climbed up on a chair, and he got her plate ready. “Come on over and have a seat.”
We all went over to the table, sat down, and filled our plates with pancakes. The breakfast was great. The conversation was even better. At first, we all talked about normal things like our everyday lives before the outbreak. Calvin and his brother had inherited the farm from their father. Dillon lived in town with his family. The brothers worked the land together. They had decided that Calvin would live in the farm house. Dillon bought a house nearby and came out every day and worked with Calvin. Together they were able to make a decent living from the farm. Which, from what Calvin said, was a great accomplishment in these times. Finally, talk turned to the apocalypse.
They were out cutting hay when news broke about the virus. Lisa rushed out to the fields to tell the brothers of the news reports. After listening to what she had to say, Dillon hurried home, gathered up his wife and kids, and returned to the farm. The families decided they would ride out the infection there. They soon realized things were worse than they originally thought. Trying to make a run for it would be too difficult with so many children. Their only option was to stay. They boarded up the windows, did the best they could at reinforcing the doors, and 'hunkered down' to wait it out. Over the past few days, they'd seen a few 'zeds' and had only had one run-in with their neighbor.
We told them our story. I think this was when they realized exactly how bad things were. Al invited them to come with us. They declined his offer. Both Calvin and Dillon felt the same. Moving the children would be too hard and they were dead set against leaving the farm behind. Al told them about our encounter at Les' place and advised them to leave as soon as possible. He said they were too close to the highway and eventually they would have zombies at their doorstep. Calvin said he had thought about leaving but really had no idea where they could go. We told them again they could come with us. And again, they declined.
“Steve, we should get going. We can talk all day. Calvin wants to stay here. We need to respect that.” Gina said.
“Yeah, we do need to get on the road. Thanks for letting us camp here last night. Lisa, breakfast was great. Calvin, you have a fine family.” Al said. “Let's saddle up.”
We said our goodbyes and headed out. Al took the lead and we back tracked to the highway. The first two miles were clear but then we came to another huge pile-up on the highway. Al's voice came over over the radio.
“Shit. We're going to have to turn around. Gina get your map out. Find us a way around this. Over.”
Gina looked at the map while we got turned around. “We'll have to go back by Calvin's farm. There's a way around but it's going to take us at leas
t twenty miles of extra driving to get around this. Over.”
“Alright kid. Let's do it.”
“You didn't say over. Over.”
We were driving past Calvin's farm headed back to the exit from the highway. “There's something going on at Cal's place.” Gina said to me.
I looked over at his place and could see the zombies surrounding the house. “Hand me the radio.”
“Al, you see that?”
“Yeah, looks like they're fucked. I can't take the truck off the road. I'd never make it. You want to try with the Hummer?”
I looked at Gina and she gave me the go ahead. “We're going.”
“Don't do anything stupid. We'll be there in five minutes.”
I put the radio on the dash, stopped the Hummer, and put it into four wheel drive. We bounced across the ditch running between the highway and the service road. Gina and I both hit our heads on the roof of the Hummer. I stopped at the top of their driveway. We both had our Bushmaster.223 in the front seat with us. In the back were four fully automatic assault rifles that Al had put in the Hummer. Each had a thirty round magazine and there was a ruck sack full of extra magazines also. We went around to the back of the Hummer and got the rifles and extra magazines and brought them up front. We started back down the driveway in an attempt to get the Hummer closer. I stopped about a hundred yards from the house. As I stepped out of the Hummer, Calvin's door crashed in and the zombies flooded through the doorway.
I heard shotgun blasts from inside the house. Gina and I opened fire at the same time. We were able to put down all the zombies outside of the house. Unfortunately, there weren't that many zombies left outside. Most had made their way into the house when the front door burst in. The shooting from inside the house had stopped. That wasn't a good sign. There were around fifteen dead zombies scattered around the front of the house. At least twenty more had made it in. I heard sounds from the radio coming from inside the Hummer. Gina went to her door and got the radio.
Dead Life (Book 3) Page 8