STRYKER - OMNIBUS: BOOKS 3-5: A Post Apocalyptic Tale

by Bobby Andrews

  “We’ll be below cleaning up whatever is left.”

  Erin sighed.

  “What?”

  “So, you’re in the middle of the shit and I am safely away.”

  “Yep.”

  “Why doesn’t Edwards take the ridge and I’m with you?”

  “Because, I don’t love Edwards.”

  “He’s a nice guy.”

  “Not my type.”

  “Why?”

  “He has a penis.”

  Erin rolled her eyes and said, “Sometimes you really piss me off.”

  “I do that with a lot of people.”

  “Not a good idea with me.”

  “I know. So, I’ll beg for forgiveness later. No matter what, we need someone we can trust on the ridge and yes, the danger is far less there, but one of us has to do it, so why not you?”

  “Why not you?”

  “Because I have been through the most savage battles you could imagine, and you couldn’t, and you haven’t. Therefore, my chances of surviving are higher than yours. And, our chances of having each other are greatly enhanced.”

  “Well, you didn’t start out with that experience.”

  “And, neither will you.” Stryker grinned at her.

  “You are a very maddening person.”

  “And you smell like a rose.”

  “Asshole.”

  “Thank you for that. I appreciate honesty.”

  “Your welcome, but take it with a grain of salt. I don’t like this and I am not happy right now.”

  “I am. Could not be happier. I feel like singing.”

  “What do you want to sing?” Erin asked.

  “I like Sympathy for the Devil by the Stones.

  “Why does that not surprise me?

  “Because you know what a refined and intelligent person I am?”

  “That’s not it.”

  They lapsed into a comfortable silence, gaining altitude as they left the city. They passed a series of auto dealers and truck stops, and began they drove through a sparsely populated rural area before they climbed even higher and exited the Interstate in Alpine. Stryker crossed the interstate on the overpass and headed back toward San Diego.

  “Why didn’t we look on the way out?” Erin asked.

  “I want to see what it would like to them as they drove into town.”

  “They’re traveling at night. They can’t see anything.” Erin rolled her eyes.

  “They may have NVGs. I’d rather be sure, than not.”

  “By the way, I hate that song.”

  “What’s wrong with it?” Stryker asked.

  “It’s dark.”

  “Look around you. What is not dark about this world?”

  “You and I.”

  “Something we can agree upon.” He smiled at her.

  You’re still an asshole.”

  Stryker gave her a wide grin, and his eyes returned to the road.

  They drove another few miles toward San Diego, and Stryker pulled over and stopped at an area that had hotels packed close to the freeway, still outside of the city, but close enough.

  “This would work,” he murmured.

  “What’s on your mind?”

  “Those hotels by the freeway are all high rises. We could do the secondary ambush from them. Five guys with rocket launchers shooting from the upper floors would decimate them.”

  “Why rocket launchers?”

  “Because we have to take the vehicles out. If they end up on foot, they have no Stingers, and lose most of their fighters on the semis. It would be a hard enough blow that they couldn’t launch an attack on the base. Whoever survived could annoy the hell out of us, but not to the point of overrunning us.”

  “They probably won’t get by the first ambush.”

  “Probably not.”

  “So why this one?”

  “Please allow me to introduce myself; I’m a man of fortune and taste. I've been around for a long, long year, stole many a man's soul to waste,” Stryker sang. He grinned broadly.

  It was the opening stanza of Sympathy for the Devil.

  “I rode a tank; Held a general's rank; when the blitzkrieg raged

  and the bodies stank,” Stryker continued singing.

  “Okay, I get it. You want to finish the rest of them, so nothing is a bridge to far. Stop singing already.”

  “The next stanza is really good.”

  “Skip it,” Erin sighed.

  “Let’s get serious.” Stryker stared at her until she nodded.

  “Okay.”

  “We cannot let them get into the city. If they get those Stingers close to the base, they will target the enlisted apartments and take out most of our defenders before the real battle starts. They will recon us until they figure out how to inflict the maximum damage, and a lot of our guys will die.”

  “I get it.”

  “Then, they will just wait and snipe at us every time someone moves around the base. Sooner or later, they will manage to infiltrate us, and then we’re in a life or death battle to just win the fight at any cost.”

  “All right. I get it already.” She looked at him with a pissed off expression.

  “No you don’t, because you never fought house-to-house and you have no idea what it’s like. But, you have to understand that you’re going to be in command on the top of the cut, and they cannot get by you no matter what happens. Your guys have to get almost all of them for us to get out of this with the base relatively intact.”

  For the first time, Stryker saw Erin actually understanding how important her role would be. Her expression was serious and thoughtful. He hugged her by looping a long arm across the seats, watched her expression grow even more serious, and then started driving back down the interstate toward the base.

  “Do you think I will lose any of my shooters?” Erin asked after a minute.

  “You’ll probably lose someone, or have some wounded.

  “I don’t like that thought,” she whispered.

  “I don’t either. But, if you want to be involved, it comes at a cost. That’s the price of admission.”

  “Will you and Edwards be all right at the bottom of the cut?”

  “We’re always all right. We strongly believe in letting the other guy die for his beliefs; we both experienced a lot of urban combat, and I know I can rely on him when the shit gets deep. We’re the least of your worries in that fight.”

  “What about Elle and Haley?”

  “They can’t be involved. I did tell Edwards to give them training if they want it, but I don’t want them in the fight.”

  “Why?”

  “They have no taste for it and I can’t trust them to do what needs to be done. I don’t want to enter a life-or-death fight with anyone like that.”

  “That’s pretty harsh.”

  “Yes it is. War is harsh. You don’t get a do over if you’re wrong.” He stared at her, willing her to come around to his viewpoint, but knowing it would be hard for her to accept.

  Erin stared at him for a long moment, looked away, and then said, “I guess I understand that. I don’t like it, but I understand it.”

  “Thank you for that. I know it wasn’t easy.”

  “I can’t really think of Haley as being weak or not holding up her end. She is not a warrior, and I get that, but she isn’t a weak sister either. She does fine when we need her to and that’s good enough for me.”

  “Me too,” Stryker replied. “I have no complaints about her under normal circumstances when we have more control over the situation, but this is going to be a total group grope, and to be honest, I worry she would get herself killed by doing something stupid.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “So, we’re going to have to get into a ground fight with them?” Captain Tomas asked.

  The two men sat in lawn chairs under an awning that covered the patio in front of what had been the commissary.

  “It looks that way,” Stryker replied.

  “Well, Edwar
ds left with twenty of my guys. They are up in Pendleton getting trained on small arms. I guess that is the good news, but I hope this all works out.”

  “We have a solid plan, but what about the helos for close air support?”

  “That’s a no go.”

  “Why?”

  “We don’t have any ordinance they can carry, and we only have two search and rescue pilots left on the ship.”

  “What happened to the rest of them?”

  “They were all NCOs and left a long time ago.”

  “I’m an NCO; what does that have to do with anything?”

  “We had a lot more NCOs and enlisted that wanted to leave the ship, in percentage terms, than officers.”

  Stryker thought about that for a while, had several zingers he thought of, but decided to drop it. He waited for the captain to speak.

  “So what do we do to prepare for all this if they get by you?”

  “You disperse your personnel out of the apartments and spread them around the base, you get all the NVGs you can find from the SEAL base and Pendleton, and you go lights out at night.” Stryker stared at the man to see if he understood the reality of the situation.

  He was not encouraged at the bland look that was returned.

  “We can’t work without the lights.”

  “But, you can stay alive. Maybe you need to lower your expectations for a bit.” Stryker paused for a moment, and then decided to lay it out clearly.

  “If they get by us and still have the Stingers, they are going to watch the base from one of those high rises across the street. When they figure out where most of your personnel are, they will attack that building, at night, with the Stingers and take out as many of us as they can. We could lose most of the sailors you have and end up outnumbered.”

  “I thought they were surface-to-air missiles?”

  “They are, but if they don’t have a signature to lock onto, they simply go where they are aimed.”

  The captain looked away with a grim expression.

  “You need to move your people into smaller groups, in different buildings, and get NVGs for your guards so they can see the bad guys doing the surveillance. Then, Edwards and I can go get them and make the other side know they can’t get away with it.”

  “We have to find a way to get rid of them before they get here,” Thomas sat back in his chair, and looked expectantly at Stryker. His face was a shade paler and Stryker felt that he had finally gotten through to the man.

  “I think we have that sorted out. We just need to get our shit in a pile and deploy to the ambush points.”

  “Points?”

  “Yes, I’m placing five men in a hotel next to the freeway about two miles from the first ambush site. If anyone gets by us, they can take them out as they pass. We’re getting some rocket launchers for them and that should take care of it.”

  “Is that really necessary?”

  “Probably not,” Stryker replied. “But, in combat, thing do go wrong and the unexpected often happens, so it’s best to have an insurance policy if at all possible.

  “I doubt if any of my men have ever fired one of those.”

  “I doubt they have.” Stryker gazed down at the captain with a sense of pity for the man. He was obviously out of his league, but accustomed to taking the lead and looked bewildered at the situation he found himself in.

  “That’s why I picked the rockets. It’s pretty much aim and shoot. Edwards is bringing some back from Pendleton, and we’ll train five men on firing the launchers. They’ll be fine so long as they remember a few safety rules. ”

  The two men sat in silence for a long moment. Thomas looked away and then back at Stryker. “I know you think less of me for giving my wife a sat phone.”

  “I did,” Stryker admitted. “But then I thought of what I would do with Erin if I were in the same position. I’m not sure what I would do, but I know the temptation would be almost beyond what I could bear.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You want me to take you to see her?”

  “I can’t leave now. I know she’s safe and that has to do for now. I have to get things going here and stay with my people and try to keep the crew together.”

  Stryker nodded his approval.

  “Maybe when things settle down here, we can go?” Thomas looked up at Stryker with a wistful expression.

  “I’d be happy to do it.”

  “Well, that could be some time. There are some things I haven’t told you that you are going to need to know sooner or later.” Thomas paused, as though struggling with himself about how much to say.

  “I know you have other vessels out there that are still patrolling, if that’s what is on your mind.” Stryker said. “One of your men, Brad, already told me that back in Texas before the air strike. And, he didn’t need to; I already knew the minute I found out that the Nimitz was still around.”

  “How could you know?”

  “I understood that all nuclear powered subs and carriers would be told to stay at sea when the plague hit. It made sense. At any given time, we have around thirty percent of our Navy at sea, so there had to be more than just the Nimitz. I am guessing that a lot of vessels that were non-nukes probably were told the same thing, but have been forced to shore by now.”

  “That would be correct,” Thomas replied dryly. “And, eventually we have to find a way to get them here.”

  “Are any of them in immediate danger?”

  “No. We still have two subs on the east coast that are patrolling and several other ships that were forced to make landfall that are scattered up and down the east and west coasts. They are surviving, but at some point we have to go get them.”

  “We can do that,” Stryker shrugged. “Once we get the rest of the diaper heads put to bed, we can take some trucks and go bring them back.”

  “We are the last carrier left. Three others were at sea, but all of them left port right before the plague hit, and all left with infected personnel aboard. One was on the east coast, one was in the Med, and the last was docked in Japan, So, we’re it.”

  “So, your guys are the last real counterstrike force we have short of nukes on the subs?”

  “Correct.”

  “Not good.”

  “No.”

  Stryker fell into a troubled silence and finally said, “Well I guess we have to learn how to walk and chew gum at that same time.”

  “We have to protect the base first,” Thomas replied. “If we don’t, there’s nothing left for the others to come to.”

  “Agreed. But, we also need to make a priority of getting them back here. We have been without new fuel supplies for two years, and gas and other fossil fuels are degrading fast. We might get another six months of being able to keep the vehicles running, but after that, we are all going to be on horseback or walking.”

  “How do you know that?” Thomas asked with a puzzled expression.

  “Because I know that fuel destabilizes over time, and I know that you can’t stop the degradation of the octane of the fuel as it does. So, eventually, the fuel won’t run a combustion engine.”

  “Well, that’s a piece of news I probably didn’t need.”

  “I’d rather know it than find myself stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no prospects of getting back here,” Stryker replied.

  Thomas looked at Stryker with a frank expression. “Why are you willing to stay here and defend the base?”

  “Why are you?” Stryker retorted. “We both took an oath, and the fact the world turned to shit doesn’t give us a hall pass. We need to work together on this and make sure things don’t get worse.”

  “If I wasn’t the Captain of the Nimitz, I would have just gone home and seen my wife.”

  “But you are, so here we are. If I wasn’t in the way of the ISIS terrorists, I would be sitting on my ranch in Texas worrying about the tomato harvest. Neither of us is in a position to stick our heads in the ground and pretend this is anything but what it is.”

>   “Every time I talk to you, getting this done seems more impossible,” Thomas replied.

  “This is like building a house,” Stryker responded. “You have laid a good foundation, and we just need to get the framing done. Once that’s over, we put the roof on and hang the sheetrock and then we have a house. We’re going to get there, but don’t let the big picture overwhelm you. We just take this a step at a time, and worry about the next problem, until they all go away.”

  “That’s just the first step.”

  “It is. But every journey starts with one step.”

  “My first step was around two years ago,” Thomas replied.

  “Mine too. But, you’ve done something only a handful of men could do: You managed to keep a fighting force alive when every single man and woman here just wanted to go home. That’s pretty remarkable and, don’t count yourself out. These people need you to get them through this and, if you crap out, they will too.”

  Both men sat in silence for a long moment. Stryker looked at the high rise building across the street, his mind automatically calculating fields of fire from the structure, ballistic trajectories, and probably hide spots.

  He didn’t like what he saw.

  “To be honest,” Thomas said, breaking the silence, “All I wanted to do for the last two years is go home.”

  “But, you are still here.”

  “No choice.”

  “There’s always a choice. The only thing you can’t decide is when you die. Everything else is a decision you make.”

  “You think you can stop them before they get here?” Thomas looked at Stryker with a question mark in his eyes.

  “I don’t think we have any other means of making sure you don’t take casualties and the base doesn’t get damaged.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Stryker watched as the column of Humvees pulled through the gate and parked in front of the maintenance building. Edwards got out, grabbed his carbine from the vehicle, and walked over to where Stryker stood. Elle and Haley joined Erin, who was seated at a picnic table chatting with several of the female sailors. The remainder of the men and women dispersed in all directions.

  “And?” Stryker asked as Edward came to a stop in front of him.