by Tom Germann
He carefully stepped around the counter and went into the washroom, where he was able to turn on the flashlight and then relieve himself. He turned the flashlight off while he was still in the washroom so his eyes would adjust to the dark.
When he came out a minute later, he looked around. Something didn’t seem right. There was only snoring from the front of the building where the stretchers had been set up, hidden away behind the display stands and tables.
That was it. There was no one talking upstairs. When he had been on shift earlier with that young Private Weibe, they had spent their entire time quietly talking. When he had woken up their replacements and come back, he could clearly hear Weibe talking to himself to stay awake.
Maybe the sentries were asleep?
Jimmy thought about letting it go, but then dismissed that thought. This was about safety, and what if something had happened?
He carefully climbed the ladder and looked around at the top. The two folding chairs were empty.
He looked left and right as far as he could see. There was a partial moon out and daylight was still far enough off that the moon’s brightness illuminated the roof clearly.
There had been no one in the washroom. This was supposed to be Richard and Sal as the second last shift. Maybe they had skipped taking their shift?
He climbed down and looked in the office. It was empty.
Jimmy stepped over to the storeroom and shined his light inside. He could see Tracy and Susie lying on boxes covered by blankets. Janice’s blanket was folded and sitting on her boxes.
He cursed under his breath and turned the flashlight off. He moved toward the front of the building. He could see the glass gleaming in the moonlight.
The door. The outer door was ajar! He moved quickly and quietly toward that door, carefully pulling it closed and locking it.
The metallic clack was loud and he felt better immediately. Given what was out in the woods, he’d feel even better in a bunker but this would do for right now.
Jimmy considered and knew how tired everyone was, but he had to let them know. He crept over toward the two stretchers and bent over, hissing at them. He could see them both stir, but they only grumbled and rolled over.
Jimmy tried again, “Wake up! We have a real problem!” His hiss was much louder this time and both men jerked awake. “It’s me, Jimmy. I went to the washroom and I found Richard, Sal, and Janice all missing. The front door was unlocked and no one is on sentry.”
A dark shape was sitting up and grabbing for items around. Steven’s voice was quiet and panicked, “What do you mean they’re ‘missing?’ Are they in the building?”
“No, I mean they are not here and the front door was unlocked!”
The other shape, which had to be Wagner, leapt up and ignored everything else. “Did you lock the door? Is anyone else awake?”
“No, that was the first thing I did. Locked the door that is. I came right over to you guys. We gotta do something.”
The warrant officer’s shape sat down and grabbed for boots in the murky blackness and started fumbling them on. “Jimmy, can you please go and wake everyone? We need to get ready to roll out of here as a group and look for them. Wait. They didn’t take any vehicles?”
“No, there are people sleeping in all the vehicles and if you started one, it would probably be loud.”
Jimmy turned to go, but then stopped. “If they went out there…what about the zombies?”
Steven’s shape stopped trying to put shoes on and just sat there. “What zombies? What do you mean ZOMBIES??”
Wagner sighed and started talking while getting dressed. Jimmy headed for the storage room to wake the women. “We had a visitor yesterday, Steven. It was a zombie. We didn’t tell anybody because there was only one. It came out of the woods and everyone agreed to stay inside. We only saw one.”
Steven started pulling his shoes on again. “Okay, so you saw someone that was walking around, and what?”
“It attacked us, we defended ourselves, and when Jimmy broke its arm and it started trying to get up, Corporal Vajjer smashed its skull in with the fire extinguisher. We covered the body up and left it where it fell in case of infection.”
Steven’s voice came out strangled. “JESUS! You broke some guy’s arm and then smashed his head in? That is NOT how I expected you to operate!”
Wagner stood up and stretched. “Steven, we did NOT break a man’s arm. It was a dead guy walking around. He was missing most of one arm, most of a leg, parts of his face had been torn off along with an ear, and when Jimmy smashed his other arm with a crowbar, it was dragging itself along on the stumps. It also looked like it had been outside rotting for a while.”
His voice was going up and getting more heated, so he took a deep breath and exhaled. “It was an IT. There are NO drugs anywhere that can keep you going like that. Blood loss would have done for him in minutes unless he had decent medical aid. IT was a walking dead guy.”
Steven struggled up and started walking for the door. “Oh my god… No matter what, there are three people that are now wandering around out there and they aren’t aware that there are…whatever out there. We have to go now and find them!”
Wagner walked over and grabbed Steven’s arm. “NO! We are getting everyone up and going that way with lots of help and a bit of light. We’re losing the last moonlight now and it will be sun up soon.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?!”
“Why, Steven? So everyone can freak out? So I can find someone hanging dead because they lose it like Sal? Or be argued with by Richard or your wife? EVERYONE agreed that there could be wolves and they were staying inside. And we didn’t see anything else all of yesterday.”
Susie and Tracy had come forward, but were staying just a bit back. Tracy snapped, “Okay. What weren’t we told about by the army now? IS there something dangerous in the area?”
Jimmy came back into the service centre followed by the rest straggling in. “Sam, he’s gone too. I saw him playing with that small revolver last night too. He was oiling it and getting rid of the rust. I think he took it with them.”
Everyone collected at the front of the building by the tables and started talking.
“QUIET!” Wagner bellowed. “Corporal Vajjer, get Private Weibe on water for coffee and have him pull out food for breakfast. Everyone comes forward and we make sure we have everyone else. I’ll let everyone know what happened and we can talk about it and come up with a plan now. Susie? Can you please look around in the back and see if anything looks like it is missing? Sergeant Caisson, do you still have all the weapons?”
Caisson walked to one of the display cases. “Shit. Ah, yes, sir. There were two revolvers out that we didn’t really trust. That twenty-two we brought back, and that Smith and Wesson Model Nineteen, which Jimmy has.”
Jimmy called out, patting his belly. “I still have her right here.”
Wagner sighed again. The first hint of false dawn was showing outside. “Okay, everyone, this is what happened yesterday.” He quickly recounted what had happened, stressing the horrible injuries that the person attacking them had had. “So it looks like the flu virus that was going around may have been a zombie weapon that got out of control. I don’t know where they went, but I am hoping they are just walking down the road. If we get ready, we can drive down and pick them up maybe only a few miles down the road. I just hope we go the right way.”
There was silence except for the sound of Weibe pouring water into the large pot and firing up the gas burner.
Tracy said, “You idiot! They didn’t go down the road! They are heading to the mall for help and…” She stopped speaking.
Wagner put his hands on his hips and stood there, a dark shape in the black. “How do you know where they went, Tracy?”
Tracy’s shape twitched and then her hands went to her hips and she started yelling,
“Because you army types are like all the other government bureaucracy! Telling people what to do and when! You wouldn’t go out and look for other people! You wanted to keep us all here and power trip over us! You’re the WORST type of person!”
The smack was loud in the room. Tracy cried out and started flailing, but Susie just hit her again with an open-handed slap.
The sun was just rising and the service centre was growing lighter by the second.
Tracy fell to her knees sobbing while Susie loomed over her. No one else moved. “You stupid BITCH, Tracy. I went out yesterday and told you it was dangerous. You KNEW that they were going to leave? You didn’t tell anyone else? You and Janice have just killed those four now! Crap! Why are people so stupid.”
Warrant Wagner stepped forward and grabbed Susie’s arm. “Stop. She didn’t know. It’s not her fault.” He gave Tracy a hand up which she took.
The talking picked up and Steven ran for the door.
The booming of a heavy calibre revolver shut everyone up. Steven jumped and stopped running. Jimmy brought the weapon down from where he had shot into the ceiling. “Damn, that was dangerous! Everyone shut the hell up! We have to plan out what to do. The warrant and the other soldiers are going to do what they are trained to do. Deal with this here ‘domestic operation’ and WE are going to act like adults and do common sense things like help.” He glared at everyone. “What do we do, Warrant?”
“If there are mass zombies out there then we have a problem. We have two shotguns with a box full of shells, a hunting rifle with twenty rounds, three revol…two revolvers, and a semi-auto and not much ammo at all. We also have some tools. If those are zombies then they need to be shot in the head. If there are lots of zombies then even if we ram through with the cars, we probably couldn’t get back out.”
He paused and considered. “I am going to put this to a vote, as you are all here and several civilians are involved. We either carry on like we planned and prepare to leave and hope they see a sign of bad stuff and have enough sense to come back, or we go after them. Now if we go after them, we are sending a small group with the two shotguns, the rifle, and all the ammo.” He paused again. “Does anyone else see any other options?”
There was silence except for Tracy, who was sobbing quietly while leaning against the counter.
“Okay. All in favor of us ALL going to find them, put your hand up.”
He waited a second and no one’s hand went up.
“Okay. All in favor of us packing up and carrying on getting ready to leave. We wait until they come back or we see indication that they aren’t coming?”
Caisson’s hand, along with Vajjer, Tocker, and Jimmy’s, went up.
Wagner nodded. “Four people want to carry on. So that makes it seven people who think we should go looking for them. I happen to be one of them. So we are going to send a party after them.”
He looked around. “Okay, who feels stupid enough to volunteer to go besides me?”
Steven stepped forward. “I’ll go.”
Susie put her hand up. “I’ll go and I can fire a shotgun pretty good, even better at short range.”
All three privates stepped forward and put their hands up, along with Jimmy.
Caisson stepped forward. “I’m going, but she--” He was pointing at Tracy. “--is going with us. In fact, she should be on point for this one.”
Tracy looked up. “No, no, no, no, NO!” Every time her voice getting louder. Susie snorted, turned, and glared at her friend. Tracy went white and put her arms around herself while she kept sobbing and rocking.
Wagner nodded. “Okay. Three of us are going. Steven and Jimmy, you are staying behind and getting those vehicles fully packed. We may be coming back at a run. I’ll take the sarge and Tocker. You still a good shot with a rifle, Tocker?”
“Yes, sir!”
Steven spoke up, “I AM going. She’s my wife!”
Vajjer spoke from the back where he was pouring coffee into cups. “Are you going to shoot her in the head if she’s been bitten and turned? Or the others? Or are you going to run up to her and get infected too?”
Steven had his mouth open while staring at the corporal.
“Yeah, I thought so. Didn’t you notice that only military personnel are going? We’re trained to shoot and will if we have to even if we don’t like it.”
Wagner looked at Steven. “I need you and the rest to stay here and be ready for us to bug out. If we can find them and bring them back, we will. But I think it’s too late.”
Steven closed his mouth and shook his head. “I have to go. She’s my wife.”
“No, Steven. You are a leader here. Welcome to the joys of leadership. Unless you want to put her--” He pointed at Tracy, crying on the floor. “--in charge?” He turned to Jimmy. “When we leave, make sure the building is secure front and back, no one else leaves. If the vehicles can be pushed into location, just be ready to jump start anything that needs it.”
Wagner headed for the coffee that was steaming on the counter. “Sarge, Tocker, grab a cuppa and let’s go. We walk, bring one bottle for a drink. We have to cover a few klicks. Corporal Vajjer, could you get the shotguns and rifle please?”
“No problem, sir.” He disappeared into the garage while the three soldiers drank their coffee and ate stale donuts. He was back in a minute with the three weapons and the few rounds that they had.
Caisson summed it up. “This is gonna suck. I’m grabbing my pry bar.”
Jimmy and Steven were talking together at the front. Jimmy turned to everyone. “Okay, everyone, this is how we do it. We work first and then when we are set to leave, we eat and drink. We are packing the stuff into the vehicles while they are in the bays and then when all are packed, we open the bays and push them into position. If we go outside, we have people watching and armed. Corporal Vajjer will be in charge of defending us ‘cause he has a gun, I have a gun, and Susie has one. MOVE!”
Vajjer leaned in close to the warrant officer and sergeant. “You’ve watched a lot of horror movies. You know the big building is a perfect spot for a command centre for the town and it’s probably crawling with zombies. They’re probably all dead by now. Why go?”
Wagner looked at him and answered quietly, “If they’re dead then they are, but this isn’t a horror movie, right? This is the real world. They may see something and head straight back.”
The sergeant’s answer was blunt. “This is a zombie apocalypse. That shit is cool. If there are lots of zombies out there, we can move faster than them and we come back. You ready, sir? Tocker? Let’s go do this before it gets any later.”
While everyone inside the building started rushing to load and prepare the vehicles, the three soldiers went out the front door, which Susie locked behind them. As Susie walked into the back to help move some of the stores, she ignored Tracy, who had sat down at one of the small tables and was still crying.
The three soldiers walked off, keeping an eye out for anything else out of the ordinary.
Let’s Go To The Mall
Richard was trying to cover his yawn with one hand while walking next to Sam. A few feet behind them were Janice and Sal bringing up the rear. Janice had gotten rid of her heels and put on a pair of flip flops that had been sitting in the small trucker section of the service centre.
Her high heels were in the bag on her back. She just wouldn’t let them go.
Richard was already soaked in sweat from walking in this insane heat. Sam looked a bit better, but he was also constantly looking around nervously, as if he expected a pack of wolves to come leaping out of the woods or race at them from in between the houses.
Sal had been whining for a while and they had stopped after the first fifteen minutes. Everyone admitted that they weren’t feeling that great and their feet hurt, so any stop was appreciated. Janice was as grim as death and convinced that they had to get
to the school or mall and find whatever disaster relief efforts were going on for the area.
They had all been swayed by Janice’s words over the last day. The soldiers could have just marched off after breakfast and got help. They were soldiers, that’s what soldiers did. They were supposed to protect the civilians who paid their high salaries and listened to their war stories. Instead, they had fortified the service centre as if expecting an attack. There had been reconnaissance patrols and more people going out.
Everyone had just nodded at Janice to be polite. She was uptight as hell and sure that she was right, and her husband was an idiot for going along with the soldiers. Well, Richard agreed with her now and Sal had as well. Probably because he thought the soldiers had been laughing at him behind his back.
The last straw had been when they pushed back the stolen cars. The company was going to be mad enough as it was that people were using and eating all the inventory. The girls had stopped tracking who used what that first morning. Who was going to pay for that? How would that look with the classic cars that had been stolen?
Maybe if they went to the authorities and explained that they had panicked, the car theft could be overlooked. The military had as much as ordered the food and items be used.
Richard shifted his grip on the baseball bat. He agreed that there could be wolves or maybe coyotes out here, so having it for protection made sense. Sal was carrying a tire iron. Janice was carrying the bag of drinks and Sam had the small revolver.
Sam had spent an hour cleaning the gun up and the cylinder rotated much easier now. He had the box of loose rounds in his pocket and the gun itself was in the backpack. No one wanted the police to come around a corner and be confronted by an armed gang. They were likely to shoot first and ask questions later.
Sam had not been comfortable with what Janice and the rest were talking about. Leaving the group and then going to find the authorities sounded like they were trying to cut a deal and get out of trouble. But he sort of felt obligated to help them out. If there was a pack of wild wolves out here, then more people in the group should help keep them away.