Afraid of the Dark

by Chris Hechtl

  “Me neither,” Bobby muttered as they climbed out.

  “What happened,” Jen asked, hands on her hips. He slowed as he got out, turned and closed the door.

  “Hi honey, I'm home, no I've had a shitty day and no I don't need to be interrogated after the day I've had,” he said conversationally. Well, with just a hint of frost in his tone.

  Bobby and a few of the others around him winced. He'd been a bear all day. The entire crew had walked around on egg shells whenever he was in a room. Hell when he was in a house. The guy had taken positive pleasure in killing the aliens today, more so than ever.

  Jen's eyes flashed at the rebuke. He ignored it. “Yes I survived, no one was killed and we brought back some stuff. Including soy bacon,” he said conversationally.

  Her lips puckered. She looked at him for a long moment and then toed the ground. “That the way you’re going to play it?” she asked as he took his rifle off and checked it. She looked up, challenging him again.

  “I'm not in a good mood Jen,” he growled, eyes flashing. Her eyes widened. They hadn't had a fight in months. Hell, years really. Now she realized he really was in a foul mood.

  “Boss...” Bobby sighed. He shook his head. “You are not getting out of this without spilling.” He turned to Jen. “He's pissed. Seriously pissed. That was freaking hairy.”

  “I see that,” Jen said dryly.

  Shane looked around and pursed his lips. He took the crowd in and then grunted irritably. Finally he climbed onto the bumper and looked around.

  He cleared his throat and then raised his voice. “All right, all of you heard my broadcast. For those of you who didn't, we went to the super stores this morning to do a little shopping.”

  He paused for a laugh but no one was in the mood. He nodded. “Right. It turns out the high school and area is occupied by a... hostile group.”

  “How hostile?” Wayne asked.

  “Try nearly blowing each other away hostile. We were this close,” Bobby said, holding up his RPG and using one hand to measure about a centimeter apart.

  “Shit.”

  “What the hell happened?”

  “Well, I ran into a coworker of yours, Harris. Balding guy, bit of a pot belly. Pretty worn out. Unfortunately he wasn’t alone.”

  He laid out what happened in short sentences. Then he nodded looking at the crowd. They were still silently watching him. “So, they stay on their side of the line, we stay on ours. Rancho is off limits as of today. Stay at least one block away from the line at all times. If you head into an area where they are at, pull back and radio it in. Any contacts, radio them in. ROE is fire if fired on only. If they come in and look like they are going to start some shit, pack your shit and move.”

  “Just walk?” Torres asked surprised.

  “Just walk,” he said firmly. “I don't need any of you getting killed by any of them. The aliens are the enemy not them. Hopefully they will wise up and get the message. We're going to do a show of force if they get cute and come in and try to jack our trucks or come in after we've cleared an area like vultures. I don't want anyone starting anything they can't finish. Got it?”

  The crowd around him looked grim. He stared around them, hand clenching. “I said got it?” he growled, putting as much authority in that as he could. Finally he got a few reluctant nods and affirmatives. He nodded.

  “That is all. Time to shit, shower, and shave, eat and sack time before we do it all again tomorrow. Get some rest folks, tomorrow is another day,” he said climbing down off the truck.

  “This isn't over,” Jen said to him in his ear as the crowd broke up.

  “Yes I know,” he sighed. The rage was finally starting to ebb. There was something to be said about a debrief and how it helped to get things off your chest. “Its just starting. We'll get through it, one day at a time. With or without their help,” he said firmly.

  She gave him a long measuring look and then nodded once and left. He shook his head and gathered his gear. Time to put his own words into practice.

  ACT II

  Chapter 37

  Over the past month they had turned the mall and parts of the Towngate complex into a fortress, using construction equipment to level the surrounding area and in some places they even managed to create a moat. The mall had an outer perimeter wall with five gates, two on the West side near Lowes, one near what was left of the Green Onion on the East, one Southern one across from the food court and one other South Eastern one by the Sears garage.

  Over eighteen thousand people were in the Towngate compound. Things had almost settled into routine. People worked in the growing factories or on other projects.

  One of those projects was the ever growing farms. The people involved made planters for garden greenhouses. Eric, the Swede, and Eric the farmer worked with Bob's crews to set up greenhouses out of wood, PVC, clear plastic, and windows. The greenhouses were everywhere, even on parts of the mall roof.

  The outer wall was partially made out of metal shipping containers and other things. They were stacked two or three high where possible. The running joke was that the place was starting to look like something from the Road Warrior movies or one of the Kevin Costner movies.

  A few people had brought in animals. Dogs were the number one survivor, followed closely by chickens. Chickens however, once settled down, started producing eggs. Most of the cats and dogs were fixed.

  During the day people formed up into work parties. Nearly six hundred people went out in the teams to kill aliens during the day. Most were trained now; all had seen some form of combat or had some training under Ross and his DI's. Still they had losses.

  Every morning crews left to work at the sewer plant and trash plant off Perris and the water treatment plant at MAFB to keep some utilities working. Jen and Eric begin setting up leeching pits to convert solid waste into methane for natural gas. Crews worked by day, coming home at night. Curfew was one to two hours before dark.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  He buckled his belt and straightened, shrugging on the armor. His body armor was uncomfortable, but it was worth wearing, even in the heat or the wet. Too many of his people didn't have any, or had improvised chicken plates that Walt and Jesse had whipped up in the machine shops.

  At least he wasn't on point, he thought, checking his gear one last time. Mick had been chewed up yesterday morning in an unlucky run in with a Hellboar. Bear, the big guy who had replaced him, had tried to wear explosive ordinance armor in an entry later that afternoon and had been just too slow for the raging Hellcat that had been on the other side of the door. He wasn't sure who was going to replace the guy. “You're fine,” Jen said, coming over.

  “Just about,” he said. One more day of the month left.

  “Lost quite a few yesterday,” she said quietly, not meeting his eyes as she got into his personal space. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her.

  “Yeah,” he said quietly. “That we did,” he sighed. They always lost people, normally the rookies. They did the dumbest things, despite repeated warnings. He had to remember that it took living through an attack to turn a rookie into a vet. Experience was the only teacher here, and it was a grim class room with a heavy price for not studying properly.

  “Ten dead, twenty in the hospital,” he said. The aliens were not only growing, some were getting smarter and a lot tougher to kill. All in all it had been a hell of a week. The crap he'd gone through on Monday with the high school had turned into just the start of a shitty week.

  “Twenty-four wounded. It was twenty-five but doc lost one this morning,” Jen said quietly, hands absently playing with his vest pockets.

  “Ouch,” was his only answer. He sighed softly. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know who. That made him feel like a heel for some reason.

  “You come back safe okay?” she whispered.

  “Of course.”

  “I mean it damn it. No one gets to frag your ass but me.”

  “Yes ma'am,” he chuckled s
oftly as she boxed him against the wall and caught his hands with hers. She laced their fingers together and pinned them to the wall at shoulder level with a hard shove. There was no escape now and he knew it. Not that he wanted to escape, in the slightest.

  “I think I need a better promise than that,” she murmured huskily, lips against the left side of his neck. He shuddered a little at the feather light touch of her lips and then felt her nip.

  “Oh?” he asked. “I mean ow! Just what do you think you're doing there vampiress?” he asked.

  “Marking my man meat,” she growled, putting actions to words. He chuckled softly. He winced as she nipped up and down and then sucked greedily.

  When she was done she gave him a hungry kiss then smiled as she stepped back. He touched his neck and felt his cheeks flame a little. “A hicky?” he asked, and then tried to give her a swat. She dodged it, snickering. He hadn't had one in years.

  “Serves you right, now go to work,” she said, giving him a coy smile and a hip bump as she walked out.

  He chuckled again, getting his gear together, tucking his helmet under one arm and heading off to his assigned motor pool. Hopefully the gang wouldn't notice his new marking.

  There were six groups of harvesters now, each with about a hundred militia and another hundred harvesters. Hernandez led one, working his way to Perris city, he had another, leading the Canyon Springs group, Todd had the Riverside group, Wayne and Torres had a small group each and were focusing on the center of town. Dave had the final group. They focused on vehicles, fuel, and construction supplies and equipment.

  There were two other groups, new groups as of today. Both of them would focus on businesses, industrial, and commercial buildings exclusively. TJ was leading one for now. He nodded to Pat. Tater took one look at his neck as he got close and snickered. This made others in the squad turn.

  “Boss man got throttled! What'd you do man? Tick the wifey off again?” Jere teased.

  “Naw man, that there is a hickey,” Tater said. “Throttle marks are on both sides of the neck,” he said, using his hands to mime someone getting strangled.

  “So says the voice of experience,” Bobby said, nodding to the boss. Shane felt his cheeks blush a little. Jen always had a way of making things interesting.

  “Let's just say Jen has her own way of making sure the only thing that gets to take a bite out of my hide is her,” he said. Tater wolf whistled at that, slapping him on the back as the others laughed.

  “That mean you've got a matching set on your ass? Which cheek?” Tater asked, making a show of looking. He brushed the guy off irritably as the others snickered and laughed.

  “Okay,” he said, nodding as the chuckles died down. “Can I have everyone's attention?” he said, raising his voice and standing a little taller so he could be seen and heard. The laughter and talking subsided. He climbed onto a bumper so he could be better seen. It was time for the morning safety meeting.

  He looked around the sea of faces. There were hundreds of people here, all ready to get moving. Some looked excited. A few looked pale, or even green. Many looked a little sleepy. Some looked like they had shit themselves. He looked around them all, knowing some wouldn't make it back. He tried not to focus on that as his face schooled itself. Slowly the group sobered.

  “You vets know the drill. That means you've got to watch your own ass as well as the rookies to make sure they pass this knowledge on to the next poor sap that gets tapped to do this shit,” he growled, looking around.

  “We're here for a dual purpose if you haven't figured that out. The first is to get as much shit as we can back here, as quickly as possible.” He waited as they looked at each other.

  “There are two different groups, the house people, and the commercial. We start that program today. Each team has two parts, the militia security, and the harvesters. Security gets the job of knocking the door down and securing the building. Harvesters get to move in and clean the place out.”

  He waited a beat and then nodded. “And by cleaning it out I mean everything on the shopping list. Fire sale, everything must go, we may not have another shot at it again,” he said. “So make it good. Food and weapons are a priority, but they aren't the only things. Starting from the kitchen we've got food, cleaning supplies, chemicals, spices, and appliances.”

  “But watch out for jacks,” Bobby said, raising his voice and turning around. He nodded.

  “Bobby's right. Watch out for Jacks, or jack in the boxes. Just because security has swept a room doesn't mean they checked in the cabinets or inside or under stuff so listen, and keep your eyes open. You hear or see something get clear and call in support.”

  “In the bathrooms, we've got medical supplies, any bathroom supplies and the all important TP.” He waited for the snicker to pass. “Weapons wherever we find them, and the garage, all supplies, chemicals, gas, tools, power tools, and appliances. That includes water heaters, HAC, and piping. We rip out any copper we can get easy access to. Watch out for power, don't get stupid about electrical. Also in the garage we grab any vehicles and gear we may want. Make sure we grab the lawn mower and fuel or oil.”

  “Outside teams will be on the roof and exterior of the house. They'll be pulling solar panels, wiring, and anything else useful. Don't get in their way.”

  “What if we find someone in the house?” someone called.

  “If it is occupied, which I highly doubt at this point that it will be, security will mark it with paint and then pass it by. So far, we've been doing this seven and a half weeks now and we haven't found a single house with people in it. Remember that,” he said. “Houses are death traps,” he growled. “Half of them have aliens in them; most of those are either Hellcats, or Gremlins and Creeplings so watch it.”

  “You see a hole in the wall, or ceiling steer clear of it. Watch out for under the bed as well. We call anything there boogey men.” He smiled a little but the smile didn't reach his eyes. “Speaking of which, harvest crews get to grab any bedding, and any bunk beds. Jayne also wants us to nab any and all clothing and towels so watch out for anything nesting in closets or hampers or dressers.”

  “Lovely.”

  “You all know how much of a hassle moving day is. I know everyone here has had to move at least once, so you know how exhausting it can be. Try not to let it get to you. Pace yourself. That being said,” he looked at the other team leaders and then back to the group.

  “That being said we've instituted a new thing. The team that brings in the most material in a day gets a free meal on their card.” A few people blinked, other scoffed at that. He let the murmur grow and then raised his hands for silence. Quickly it died down. “I know, I know, its not much, but its the best we can do right now. Think of it as an incentive bonus. Best crew of the week gets three meals. You can trade them, bank them, or use them for a day off.” It was the best he could do to reward his people for hard work. That and combat the growing black market.

  Jayne had told him that there were holes all through the system. Holes big enough to drive a truck through. Last night she'd asked for extra security to watch the storage centers. Someone had been going through and taking stuff out of boxes from the bottom and leaving them for inventory. She'd done an audit and hadn't been pleased with the results.

  That of course was just one way for the black market to get its goods. The other was from the harvesters and the truckers. Both were a pain. He could live with the harvesters pocketing a few things here and there, as long as they didn't get to blatant about it. They were after all taking the risks just by being in the buildings. But the truckers losing entire loads, no, that wasn't on at all. So far that hadn't happened. It had damn well better not happen.

  “Shit man, day off?” Tater asked. “That'll be the day!”

  Shane nodded. “You heard me. Right now the only thing worth anything is food, weapons, shelter, medical supplies, and teamwork. Keep that in mind.”

  He pointed to the new crews. “You rookies, listen t
o the vets. Watch them. Watch where you stick your hands. Watch out for holes and dark places, anywhere where something could hide and pop out at you. Think of this as the ultimate haunted house experience, where it could really be a killer. If you've got a flashlight use it. If you've got a pole use it but watch out that it doesn't get yanked out of your hands. Listen for telltale sounds of movement before you open something and you'll see the sun set without losing a limb or you're life.” A few gulped at that.

  He locked eyes with a few others and then nodded grimly. Too many of their casualties came from the harvesters. Most were unarmed, and most disdained armor since they needed to be as light as possible to carry as much as possible. Busting their asses hauling heavy loads made them want to conserve energy. That and they sweated like crazy in the armor. More than one person had been sent to the infirmary due to heat exhaustion.

  He turned to the security groups. Naturally the groups had started to cluster along squad lines. “Security, watch your corners, watch holes, and watch your buddy. Check everywhere and damn it, I do mean everywhere. Yesterday we lost a guy to a Creepling under a dining room table of all things so check it, then check it again.”

  “What about a Santa?” Toby asked. He'd lost a gal when a locust nest had been disturbed. Stupid, someone had shot up the chimney at the noise. The lady had been raw hamburger in seconds and all her crew could do was pull out and burn the place down.

  “A Santa is a nest of aliens in a chimney or attic for you noobs. We get something like that we're going to roast them out,” Shane said with a grim smile. Answering growls and evil grins came from his audience. He'd rather use CO2 but Professor Charlie hadn't gotten that system sorted out for production yet. “I'm not sticking anyone's neck out for that,” he growled.

  “Don't fuck around with jewels or money. Its not worth it,” Bobby said loudly. “Its just junk now folks, so don't waste the time with shit like that. The only furniture we need is computers, appliances, and bunk beds. Make damn sure the appliances are cleaned out before you put them on the trucks. Supervisor Dave gave me a ration of shit the other day because team four forgot,” he gave the team leader of team four a dirty look. She shrugged it off and flicked him the finger. His lips pursed in an angry thin line as his eyes glinted.