by Tom Germann
Tracy turned back to the window and started crying again. At the far end of the bench in the back seat, Susie sighed and looked forward. “What do you need us to do when we get there? We are going to have less time with that pack of infected or zombies or whatever behind us now.”
Wagner nodded. “I was hoping to have more time to go through this place because I am not expecting much, but you never know what you find if you look in the right hidden corner. Hang on. I’m going to push this out over the radio so everyone can hear it and we are all on the same wavelength, ‘cause that’s the building down there.”
Up ahead a building sat back from the highway with a fence around it and a truck at the side. The building looked bigger than a house and at this distance, it looked like it was made out of stone.
“Wagner. When we pull up out front, it’s going to be me, Caisson, Vajjer, and Tocker walking the perimeter. Everyone else stays in the vehicles with the doors closed. Leave the vehicles running just in case. We need to check over the outside in five minutes and decide if it is worthwhile going in or if we stay out and drive on. If anyone sees a zombie, use the radio. Is that clear?
A chorus of affirmatives came back.
“Neil. Sarah is asking, and I don’t know, what a zombie is?”
“Caisson. Um, we’ll explain it when we get there. Basically, it’s an infected.”
Wagner turned in the seat to look at Susie again. “Susie, when we stop, can you get up front and cover the wheel? If we come at a run, I want to be able to slowly drive away instead of hopping in, flooring the gas, and stalling the car.”
“Sure, I can do that. I don’t drive standard well and may grind gears, but I can get us far enough away for us to switch over safely.”
“Susie, you may want to be ready fast, we’re here. You ready, Chris?”
“Uh, with my highly limited supply of ammunition? NO, SIR!”
The vehicles slowed and pulled off the highway and into the large parking area in front of the building.
The Army Post
The building was much more impressive up close. It looked like a modern version of a castle with smaller windows on the main floor that were covered with big heavy metal grilles. The building was almost three stories tall. The steep sloped roof finished off the castle look.
Now that they were up close, they could see signs of neglect.
To the side, a large shed, almost like a small barn, was standing at a dangerous angle. Its doors and windows were closed, and it appeared to be secured. Of more interest was the chain fence that ran around the building. It enclosed a parking lot to the side of the building with one large green army truck that looked no more modern than anything else they had seen. It was parked toward the back of the compound, backed up against the building. There were several small sheds and a large collection of jerry cans to the side stacked up on racks. The gate into the compound was chained shut and didn’t look too sturdy.
Every door on the building looked like the wood had been banded with metal to make it harder to break into.
Overall, the place looked like some sort of medieval fort, and it looked like it could hold off a poorly equipped army.
The vehicles pulled to a stop and sat there idling, waiting for any sort of response. Time slowly ticked on while everyone sat, watching and waiting.
After a minute of no movement, people grew impatient.
“Sir, this is Caisson. I say we go and do a walk around.”
“I agree with you. Corporal Vajjer, bring your fire extinguisher. Tocker, stay with the vehicles and keep an eye out with that rifle of yours. And, Sarge, you get to come too. We walk the perimeter and then check out the building. Everyone, keep the vehicles running and if we come running, we take off. Clear?”
A chorus of “clear” came back over the radios.
“Wagner, last point, every vehicle needs to monitor the radios that we are leaving behind. Do NOT call us as we will have the volume off. But we can call you if we need to.”
Army Post
Perimetre Sweep
The three men got out of the vehicles and came to gether in the middle of the convoy.
Vajjer spoke first, “I’ll go point with you two covering the sides.”
“Sounds good. We need to watch our arcs and not shoot each other,” Caisson said.
They started walking to the left side of the building, away from the chain-link fence and vehicle compound.
As they circled the building, they came closer to the barn-like structure. It was made out of wood, painted black and gold, and looked solid. There were very small windows higher up and all that they could see from where they were was a large sliding door that had a chain wrapped through two huge eyebolts and then locked with a heavy lock.
They were at the corner of the fort-like building a short distance from the walls and they could see nothing but field and trees in the distance.
Vajjer pointed at the barn. “We could go check that out first. Could be stuff in it we could use?”
Wagner shot that idea down fast. “The vehicle compound has a truck and that reserve building is likely going to have an armoury and equipment. The barn? We don’t need hay or farming tools.”
The corporal nodded, and then the warrant officer relented. “We can always check it over after we have gone over the rest of this place. I just don’t want that horde to catch up.”
They walked around the side of the building. The grass was not that long, but was burnt brown in the hot weather, like all the rest of the grass in the fields. The area at the side of the building was clear and looked like it had been pounded flat. There were several small windows higher up on the walls that were also covered with iron grilles.
Caisson was constantly surveying the area. “I bet you they have a dais and all sorts of cool stuff for their dog and pony shows in that barn. This must be the outside parade square, and see?” He pointed at some concrete blocks that were further away from the building, sitting in a symmetrical line like row upon row of soldiers. “I bet they use those to anchor down their tents when they have the open houses out here. I bet they put a good barbeque on too.”
Vajjer stopped and looked at the sergeant. “Um, feeling kind of hungry there?”
Wagner kept checking everything out in the area and stopped them both. “Cut it out, both of you. This is some sort of military establishment and there could be dozens of zombies here. Remember the command post setup at the civic centre or mall or whatever meant a few guys were deployed forward. I don’t doubt for a second that there is most of a company sitting in there waiting to come out and eat us. So get focused and worry about lunch later. Let’s move on.”
The three slowly walked forward.
They came to the end of the building and the first thing they noticed was a large metal machine, painted green and sitting to the side. It looked like it had a harness that a horse would fit in. They ignored it and carried on.
At the back of the building, less than fifty metres away, were a series of stands and a small rifle range with ten firing points.
Vajjer stopped again and stared at the miniature range setup. “That can’t be more than two hundred metres. I guess they don’t need to hit targets at longer distances?”
The other two ignored him and moved on, looking at what was spread out before them. The back half of the building was a large concrete block, and shorter than the main, front part. At the back of the building were large concrete stairs going up to a pair of double doors. It was the only access to the back of the building aside, from what looked like a basement access that was covered up with doors and heavy boards.
There was also a large patio setup with several picnic tables and chairs. To the side were two huge barbeque pits. One looked big enough to hold a cow.
Everything looked idyllic. There were no disruptions and the area looked like everyone had just wal
ked away.
They crossed the back of the building and noted the two metal drums that looked like they were used as garbage cans. Vajjer looked in one. “Empty. At least they were clean.”
They continued around the fenced compound. The fence was chain-link with cattle wire rolls at the top of its six-foot height. It was big enough to hold twelve trucks and there were two small sheds inside, along with several wooden racks with overhead coverage that appeared to hold a large number of green metal jerry cans.
They could see the one truck sitting there parked at the back a bit better now. From the little they could see, the truck looked useable and like it was ready to go. Now if they could only get into the compound and check it over.
The nearest trees were over a hundred feet away and there was no cover for anyone in the immediate area. There was also no other entrance to the compound aside from the gate at the front and a door at the side of the building..
On the far side of the compound was a large patch of cultivated land that was overrun with different plants.
Wagner walked along it, stopping to kneel down and check the plants regularly. “This is some sort of garden. I have carrots, potatoes, strawberries, and a bunch of other stuff, including spices. Why would they be growing this much food here?”
The other two didn’t answer, just kept sweeping the area.
No movement and no noise.
Wagner stood up and kept walking, taking lead. He was walking faster as he came to the front of the building. The four vehicles were still parked there with their engines running and there was no other activity in the area. He stopped and looked at the other two. “The outside looks clear.”
Caisson nodded. “Yup. Now we have to clear the inside of this rather large structure with only six trained soldiers and not enough weapons.”
Wagner looked at him. “Six? I don’t include the three privates in our numbers. They’re too new and have never done this before or even trained for clearance. Heck, I’m supply and I’ve only done dry training a few times.”
Caisson shook his head. “We have to use them. They’re resources and they may be new and stupid, well, except for Tocker, but we have to use them. They’re all we got. If we don’t use them, there aren’t enough of us to properly do this anyway and we’ll end up bitten and dead or whatever. I was thinking about that on the drive. We’ve been protecting the other two because they are average.”
Wagner propped the shotgun against the chain-link and pressed a hip against it to hold it steady while he took off his beret and ran his fingers through his short hair. He rubbed his scalp vigorously and then put his beret back on. “I don’t know…”
Vajjer interrupted him. “More than just using the privates who know how to use a firearm and have been trained, even if they only have basic training at this point, we have all these civvies with us. We need to start relying on them too. We’ve been here for, what, two days? No one is really sleeping well. We’re gonna make mistakes and then accidents happen and we die.”
Wagner frowned and then looked at them both. “You’re both right. We need to start relying on them more and use them as we can. Hopefully, we find more weapons and ammo. Maybe a reinforced company as well.”
Vajjer nodded. “I hear ya.” Caisson grunted agreement.
All three headed over to the vehicles and called everyone out for. Wagner to address. “Okay, everyone, the outside perimeter is secure. We need to go into the building, though. Private Tocker is on over watch with the rifle on top of one of the cars. Anything outside the building is yours. Private Weibe and Andries, you are both going to be additional sentries at the vehicles. You’re going to walk an opposite track around the vehicles and keep your eyes open, unless you want to be infected. Keep a long, heavy tool with you and don’t get any blood on yourself if you need to use it.” Both of the young privates looked scared. “Don’t worry, nothing should sneak up on you, and Tocker is a good shot. If you see anything, get in the vehicle. Jimmy, Steven, Tracy. Do you guys think you can come along with us? You aren’t doing clearing, just acting as backup in case.”
Tracy started to shake her head, but Jimmy spoke up. “Hell, Warrant, no problem. You big guys will do all the hard work and me and the rest, we’ll just follow along and look good.”
Wagner noticed that while Jimmy had joked about it, he had a hand near the sidearm tucked into his belt. He also noticed that Jimmy had the weapon loaded but had made sure that it wasn’t cocked. He nodded at the other man. “Good to go on that, Jimmy. You guys just tag along then.”
Off to the side, Sarah nudged Neil hard and he stumbled forward. “Excuse me, sir?”
Wagner looked at Neil. “Go ahead, Neil.”
“I’d like to go in with you too. I know some people that were coming here to hide out with the army.”
Sarah stepped forward next to Neil. “Actually, sir, WE would like to go in with you as WE both know people who were coming to get help at the base here.”
Wagner looked at the young couple and spoke slowly. “Everyone inside could be infected and that seems to drive everyone insane. The three of us will go first. The second group will ONLY come in when we have cleared an area. We can’t have too many people charging in or we’re going to make this unsafe.”
Neil and Sarah nodded.
Jimmy said, “No worries, sir. We’ll come in nice and slow behind you. No one wants to get injured and we gotta play safe.”
Everyone walked toward the front door. The civilians held back, with Jimmy closest to the door. The cars were running in the background and the three soldiers were standing not far from the entry, watching it warily while they checked pockets for ammunition and talked quietly.
“Jesus, sir, I trust Jimmy. He seems pretty steady and knows how to handle a weapon. Steve, though? His wife just died. Tracy? She views us like we’re evil and all she really seems to want to do is sit and cry. I don’t know about the new kids. I don’t think they can do what has to be done.”
Vajjer checked his loaded magazines, carefully popping rounds out and checking the springs of each one before loading them again. “Sarge, I’m more worried about how little ammo we have. That place is huge and we have to clear it…”
Wagner worked the slide on the shotgun and then started reloading shells. “If we open it up and it’s too much, we run for the vehicles, dump a mag and pull back. If we can’t block the doors, we drive away. Everyone has their tools, right?”
All three patted their tools, and. Vajjer held up his fire extinguisher. “I don’t mind crushing some skulls with this, but if there are a lot of them? I’m whacking and running like there is no tomorrow.”
Wagner snorted as he loaded one last shell into the shotgun and then loaded the rest into his left shirt pocket. “Just don’t run over us. People always die in the zombie flicks by being stupid or dropping their guard. If it’s too much, start yelling ‘back’ and we break contact. They aren’t that fast.” He pumped the action. “Ready?”
The other men grunted and he started for the door. “I’ll open that big door, you both be ready to shoot bad guys if they come swarming out. Don’t shoot me.”
Cautiously moving up the stairs, he walked onto the small landing in front of the door so he could get in position. He looked at it carefully. It was large and it did have a small glass window at eye height, . covered by a securely attached metal grill. There was one large handle and an old style key lock just below that. He froze. The door was ajar.
He stepped back, bringing the shotgun up and gesturing at the door with his free hand. Both soldiers below had stopped short and were standing in a firing position. When Wagner started gesturing, both men tensed up, then the sergeant relaxed and shifted around. He would be firing at an angle across the door and away from the warrant officer.
Wagner brought the shotgun down and cursed quietly. He should have grabbed a sidearm instead.
He stepped up to the door and pressed his body against it, bracing it in case someone threw themselves against it from the other side.
He could feel it was a well-balanced door. Standing pressed against it, waiting for something to happen, he listened carefully and couldn’t hear anything. In the distance, the quiet sound of crickets chirping and even the sound that a hot day makes with almost no breeze.
He took a deep breath and calmed his heart, which was starting to thunder in his ears. This place was big enough for dozens of zombies to be waiting. He looked over at the two covering him and nodded. Corporal Vajjer nodded back.
“Open the door already! We can’t wait forever!” Tracy’s shriek was loud enough to wake the dead.
Wagner yanked the door open, backing up against the wall so he was out of the field of fire. He could see Steven waving his arms at Tracy. Jimmy was just staring at her and it looked like he was saying something, but they were further away and not involved in this.
Wagner could see both Vajjer and Caisson tensing up. Behind them all, standing on top of the station wagon holding the rifle, was Private Tocker. He was looking over, probably to see what all the shouting was about. His face was frozen like he was in shock.
The sound of moaning and shuffling feet was suddenly very clear.
“Shit.” Wagner took off at a run to get away from the door, jumping the stairs and sprinting the six extra paces so he was behind the other two. He then circled around to the opposite side of Vajjer and brought the shotgun up.
The mass seemed to explode from the doorway. There was screaming from behind them, but the words were unintelligible and there were at least two different people screaming.
The three opened fire as one, shooting slowly and making each shot count.