by Tom Germann
Wagner turned and the others got up and walked over to the trading post door, which popped open just before they arrived and two people stepped out, a man and a woman.
It was strange. They were both wearing hunting clothes and the woman, who looked young, had her hair up and a scarf tied over it. She was a good looking woman that didn’t look very comfortable in the clothes she was wearing and was clinging to the boy next to her. He was wearing hunting clothes as well, but they seemed too big for him. He held a baseball bat loosely in the hand that wasn’t around the girl’s waist.
Both of them looked clean and well fed. They also looked incredibly nervous.
As soon as the four stopped, making sure that none of their weapons were pointing at the two survivors, the girl started speaking. “Oh my gosh! I am so glad that the army is here to save us finally! I told Neil that someone would be along someday soon and we could get out of here. This horrible flu thing must be over and the horrible things we have had to put up with here! Oh my! Do you have a priest with you? If not, can we catch a lift to the nearest town? We live down that way but were trying to reach New Huckleberry because I have my grandparents living there in one of those cute little bungalows and they’re just five miles up the highway…”
The man, who had to be Neil, turned to her. “Sarah, let the people get a word in edgewise. It’s okay. We can get married when we get to town. Now let the soldiers ask whatever questions that they have.”
He patted her arm and gave her a noticeable squeeze around the waist.
Wagner smiled at the two. “Okay, we do not have a lot of time. I have a few questions and then we need to get out of here. Okay?” Both nodded. Neil gave Sarah another squeeze when she started to open her mouth.
“How long have you both been here at the trading post?”
Neil answered, “We’ve been here for just over three weeks, sir. Actually, twenty-four days. My car broke down with a flat tire and I didn’t have the spare. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, all four tires have slow leaks ‘cause they’re old.”
“Is there anyone else here with you?”
Neil shook his head. “No, some mountain people came out of the woods the first few days after we got in and cleared out all the rifles and ammunition that they could find, along with some other stuff for the outdoors, and then they left us here.”
Sarah piped up, “Oh, they pointed their guns at us but didn’t hurt us! They left Neil the bat and a bow with some arrows and were very polite. But I didn’t like them, some of the younger men were eyeing me like I was kind of common.”
Neil hushed her before she could go on further. “They did invite us to go with them and said they were set to live in the woods for years. We said no. I don’t think they really wanted to take us but were saying it because you’re supposed to be generous to those in need.”
Wagner nodded. “Okay, so they didn’t hurt you, good. Here is what I can tell you. We are military from up north. We were on an exercise trying out new uniforms.” He waved at his and the others’ camouflage uniforms. “We’ve been working our way south. We are not a rescue mission. I am guessing that the town we passed by up the road was your ‘New Huckleberry.’. It looks abandoned except for the…infected. So we drove on. Unfortunately, the infected are following us and are probably not that far behind. If you want to hole up again in here, feel free. We also have room in the vehicles for you and supplies that we can grab quickly. You two have to decide, and decide fast.”
Sarah looked at Neil and bit her lip. Her eyes were big and she was clutching onto Neil even harder. “Neil, do you think we should stay?”
Neil shook his head. “Sarah, we have to go. Eventually, the food and other stuff will run out and we haven’t seen traffic on the road since that convoy right after we got here.”
The sergeant stepped forward. “What convoy, and when?”
He looked at the warrant officer, who shrugged.
Neil spoke quickly, “The day we got here and broke down, the place was abandoned. We went into the building and were going to keep going on after having a drink, but then there were noises so we locked all the doors and slept upstairs. There was a bunch of cars and trucks that came from the north where you did and kept heading south. By the time we got downstairs, they were gone and didn’t see us. There was at least one army truck, two police cars, and an ambulance. They were probably heading for the city so they could get to the army post that was taking survivors in. After that, we just stayed put.”
Wagner looked at Vajjer. “Run to the vehicles and get some guys, we have stuff to move. We grab as much food as we can and anything else that we can use. Tell everyone to keep their eyes open and stay on guard.” He leaned in close and hissed, “And tell everyone to keep the story straight!”
Neil looked surprised and then nodded. “Oh yes, sir, there’s tons of food and stuff here. Those mountain people can come back when we are gone and take the stuff.”
When they entered the trading post with Neil and Sarah, they saw shelf after shelf of clothing and outdoor gear. To the side were tins of food that looked like Neil and Sarah had just started in on.
Neil looked at the group that had moved in and grinned. “Yes, sir! This region is famous for its outdoor lifestyle. We get people from all over the country who come here for a few days or weeks of vacation in the great outback. Lots of good fishing and hunting!”
Wagner nodded. “Good to know. Now, let’s grab food and outdoor clothes so that we can get out of here and move on to the city.”
In minutes they had collected enough tinned food for everyone for several days and then turned to clothing, as they had no clue what the weather would continue to be like and who knew how long they would be here.
Neil came over as they were moving armfuls of clothes to the vehicles. Tracy and Susie looked much happier, even though Sarah, while smiling, was keeping a careful distance from them. It was also obvious that she was keeping Neil as far away from them as possible.
When they had finally loaded the stores that they could find, including a small wood-burning camp stove and some other outdoor gear, they were ready to go.
Sarah and Neil agreed to locking the place up but leaving the keys in the backyard on a long string. If the people from the hills wanted to come back and clear out the supplies then that was no problem.
The other thing that happened was Neil brought down a double-barreled shotgun and three boxes of ammunition for it. He explained, “The mountain people took all the guns and ammo including the reloading gear. This was upstairs in one of the two apartments. So I kept it and didn’t mention it when we first saw you, in case.”
The boxes of ammunition held twenty-four rounds each and twelve gauge. Sarah didn’t like the shotgun so Neil handed it over to Wagner. Sam ended up getting it and put it in the vehicle.
Jimmy was standing by his vehicle with Sam next to him. He was looking back up the road with the binoculars, carefully studying the distant skyline. As they finished loading the vehicles, Neil came over with the soldiers to talk to Jimmy.
They had to take an extra minute because Sarah would not leave Neil’s side, so they had to shift some gear from one of the vehicle seats to fit her in. Jimmy handed the binoculars over to the sergeant, who was grabbing for them.
“Here you go, young fella! I never seen anybody so eager to get bad news.” He turned to the warrant officer. “It looks like they’re back there slowly walking on. I know we didn’t drive that much faster than walking speed but they aren’t moving as fast as we thought they would, so they must have slowed down. We’ve been here ten minutes? I would say they are almost twenty minutes away. Maybe.”
Neil was fidgeting and wouldn’t let go of his baseball bat. Jimmy looked at him. “What’s wrong, son?”
Neil looked away, turning red, and wouldn’t speak. Jimmy growled, “Son, we do not have time. Everyone here has been through the wor
st time you can imagine and now we have hundreds of zombies walking toward us. What is WRONG?”
Neil stopped moving. “I hit one of the infected in the head a lot. I had gone over to Sarah’s to check on her because her parents were out of town. There was Billy Torga. He’s a nice guy who lives outside of town. I saw him at her window and when I called him, he turned toward me and started coming at me while moaning. I could see he had bites on him and had bled a bunch. So when he wouldn’t stop coming, I hit him with the baseball bat. I hit him until he stopped coming at me. My bat was splintered to pieces by then. I went inside and got Sarah and we took off because there were more infected and the state troopers hadn’t come. I’m gonna have to marry her ‘cause…well, she’s my girl.”
He whirled on his feet and walked to the car, getting in and sitting next to Sarah, who looked like she wouldn’t stop talking.
Everyone looked at each other. “So he killed a zombie and grabbed the girl and ran,” the sergeant said. Jimmy nodded. “Yup, and they got too friendly while they were trapped here and now he’s gonna marry her. It’s like that still in areas. Good for them.”
Vajjer looked at Jimmy. “Why is it good for them?”
Jimmy just looked at the corporal. “They have someone to turn to now.” He climbed into the truck and closed the door.
Vajjer just looked at everyone else. “Great. I have you guys. Hug?”
“We are leaving now, Corporal Vajjer. We can have a group hug and cuddle when we get to the army post.”
Everyone loaded into the vehicles again and they slowly drove off, picking up speed and going a bit faster than they had before as the vehicles seemed to be holding up well.
As they drove, Neil and Sarah had questions and quickly picked up on how to use the radios. Sarah wouldn’t talk on them though, so Neil used Sam’s radio to ask the questions.
“Neil. Why don’t you have army trucks and tanks and guns? I thought the military had been fully mobilized when this started?”
“Wagner. Neil, we have been out of communication with anybody for a while. Our vehicles are broken down and we did not have weapons with us. None of us know where anyone else is. The military may well have this controlled in other areas, but we haven’t been going toward big cities as we kept running into the sick.”
“Neil. But you’ve been traveling for weeks and haven’t seen ANYONE?”
“Vajjer. We had to find vehicles and get them working and then forage as we came this way. Also it’s not like the flu was everywhere at once. The outbreak took a while to get going”
“Well, I guess that makes sense. Oh wait! That road on the rights leads to the town where me and Sarah come from. It’s just a few hundred feet up before it really opens up. Should we go in?”
The road on their right was a small gravel road that led into a tree line almost immediately. As they were coming up to it, everyone slowed down and then stopped just before the exit.
“Caisson. It looks like there are trees on both sides for just a bit and then I see some buildings. The road looks clear and there ain’t no movement. Do we take it?”
“Wagner. Neil, you say that the area is great for outdoor activity. Are there many hunters and outdoorsman in the village?”
“Um, well, OH, Neil. Yes, there are some. Why?”
“Wagner. Then we take it. There are more likely to be survivors and maybe we can find a few and hopefully some more guns and ammo. Go for it, Sarge.”
The first vehicle slowly went up the gravel road, followed at a safe distance by the next. By the time the truck was on the road, the lead vehicle was in the village.
There wasn’t much to see when they pulled in. A fire had gutted most of the closely gathered buildings. There were some houses on the outside, and where the land opened up and farmland could be seen, even more houses were in the distance.
Most of the buildings appeared to have been burnt.
As the convoy pulled into the centre of the village, which was so short that the fourth vehicle could not enter, everyone could see movement.
“Is there anywhere that we can all turn around safely without stopping?”
The movement turned into people coming out from between buildings. They were missing limbs and some had been shot. Most were covered in blood and quite dead.
“Drive straight! There is a track that we can circle on, but it’s not very smooth as a ride!”
The cars accelerated and the lead car braked hard and took a tight right turn to get onto the track which looped back to the road ahead.
“Wagner. EVERYONE GO SLOW! Make sure the windows are rolled up and don’t waste the ammo! We cannot afford to stop because someone gets stuck, and there are a lot of them!”
Within seconds, they circled the track and came back onto the road facing the highway.
“Caisson. How do we do this? I don’t trust these cars to drive over dozens of zombies.”
“Wagner. We line up, leave two car lengths between so we don’t have a pile up, and then go slow and constant through ‘em. Try to graze any of them and not just ram them.”
“Seen. We are going.”
The lead vehicle rolled slowly ahead and knocked a few zombies down and to the side. Everyone else followed suit, except for Jimmy. As he came up the road, he carefully guided his large pickup over those that had been knocked down and crushed them. As Jimmy rolled out of the centre, he could see the ones he had driven over trying to drag themselves after the fleeing vehicles.
The rest of the zombies started moving after the party.
At the main road, the vehicles slowly took the slight incline and turned right, heading again for the army post.
“Vajjer. Is everyone’s vehicle okay? Does anyone have any problems?”
“Sam. We’re good, but they are pretty shaken up.”
“Caisson. We are fine… Keep your eyes on the road, Weibe! Christ! Oh, sorry about that, all good.”
“Steven. I think we’re okay, even though Jimmy DROVE OVER a bunch of the zombies there! We may want to look under the truck carefully when we get somewhere we can stop.”
“Wagner. All good. We have about two miles to go. Sam, how are Neil and Sarah holding up?”
“Sam. Sarah is pretty upset and can’t stop crying. Hang on. Neil seems okay, I’m going to pass the radio over to him.”
“Neil here. That was bad…”
“Wagner. Yes, it was, Neil. But we need to survive the next few hours and days. Do you know the army post up ahead at all? Can you tell us anything about it?”
“Neil. Hmm, yes. It’s the building used by the regional militia company. They have a big barbeque at the beginning of every year and then a family day at the end of the year where everyone brings food. It’s a good time…”
“Wagner. That’s great, Neil. You’ve been there before. Any vehicles? Is there an armory? Supplies? Radios? Any stuff like that lying around?”
“Neil. Yes, there is a rifle range out back and they do demonstrations and supervise the public for some shooting every year. They also have a bunch of army trucks and a big command post truck with radios. They have all sorts of gear, but I don’t know what all that they have. I just see the demonstrations they put on every year. Does that help?”
“Wagner. Yes. How big is the building and how big is their company? A hundred and twenty men?”
“No, no. I think they are at about sixty-four right now.”
“Wagner. Sixty-four men in the company? Is that all ranks?”
“Neil. Well, that’s everyone.”
In the station wagon, Wagner was quietly cursing as he put the radio in a chest pocket. Vajjer looked at him. “Um, sir, you didn’t think that maybe the army post would have modern army trucks, with a fueling point and racks of gleaming weapons sitting in unlocked racks with a full ammo dump behind? Maybe with some nice armored vehicles
just out of packing grease?”
The glare was answer enough.
Susie cleared her throat from the back seat and hesitantly asked, “Is this bad? And how is this bad then?”
Tracy snorted from her side of the vehicle and cursed, staring red-eyed out the rolled down window at the passing trees.
Vajjer grinned. “I think it’s going to be bad. We are going to get there and find that the army post is actually a mud brick hut with a stable for the donkey that they use out back. They’re going to have a dozen rusty muzzle-loading muskets in the rack with a few barrels of sort of wet gunpowder that we can take. The bullets, or whatever you would call the ammo, won’t be made but will be sitting there in ten-pound lead ingots needing to be poured out by hand. Maybe they’ll have some tin cans with string reaching to their headquarters…”
Wagner laughed loudly at that and kept laughing for a while. When he calmed down, he turned to Susie. “I keep hoping that we are going to find the real place where everything is stored and get some modern equipment. I think we could do a lot of damage and stop the zombies if we had C7s or M4s or just about anything that was semi-automatic with large capacity magazines. AND enough ammo. I think we are going to walk into this army post and the only thing that will be well made will be the weapons lock-up. The entire place will be collapsing but there will be a secure weapon room that no one could ever break into. Even worse? I think we walk in and the lock-up doors are wide open and everything was issued out and there is nothing there for us.”
Tracy said angrily,. “We don’t need guns! We need to get away from those things! Maybe they have better, faster vehicles there!”
Susie looked at Tracy and then looked away.
Vajjer looked in the rear view mirror at Tracy. “Okay, Tracy, so if they do have trucks and they are in better shape than these cars, we’re going to grab them. But this is a tiny post in the middle of nowhere that has yearly public barbeques and hosts a county fair, from what Neil was saying. I think their trucks will be rusting out junk. I hope we find some military weapons that are at LEAST bolt action. But I would love semi-automatic. Who is going to keep you safe when you go to sleep at night? With the few shotguns we have and the little bit of ammo? We couldn’t even stop and fight off the zombies in that village. What do we do if we get surrounded or some of the vehicles break down?”