Inoculation Zero: Welcome to the Age of War

by S. Ison

  They were a conglomeration of gangbangers. Sure, they had their own code, but a lot of that ideology was taking what wasn’t theirs and killing. Just because the world had ended didn’t mean they were going to change their ways. Being a horde had its advantages, but it was at the expense of others working hard to survive. They were a parasitic entity that needed to be eradicated.

  Charmain was concerned about the planned night-time raid. They’d have to be careful of crossfire, and also of getting sprayed by the automatic weapons carried by the Loco Locusts. Jack had thoughtfully brought bandanas treated with a chemical that was visible on the infrared spectrum, something like a Cerakote stealth coating. They’d have the ability to track each other, but still be invisible to the Loco Locusts.

  She came to the downed tree she and Larry had found the first go round. Crouching behind it, she glassed the area. She sucked in her breath.

  Bodies lay scattered throughout the clearing. The pile of human remains was still there, a large slick of blood and bodily fluids congealing below it. But the gangbangers were all dead! They were laid out like broken matchsticks, thrown helter-skelter. Her brain had trouble understanding what she was seeing. Shit! her brain screamed.

  Backing away as fast and as quietly as she could, Charmain made her way to the rally point. Harley and Jack made their way to her, their faces showing shock she knew was mirrored on her own. Shortly, Rubin approached.

  “What the hell do you think happened?” Charmain asked in a harsh whisper.

  “I think someone got to them first. Who do you think it was?” Rubin asked quietly.

  “Not sure, but it’s been more than a day. We’d have heard the shots, though they’d have been pretty muffled by all the trees,” Harley said.

  “I think we’d better get back to camp pronto. They might be heading to our camp. Or not, but I don’t feel good about this. We don’t know who’s out there, and it looks like they took out the Loco Locusts fast and easy,” Jack said, worry lacing his words, his brows knitting together.

  “Shit. Who the hell is out there, and are they a threat to us?” Charmain wondered out loud.

  “Best err on the side of caution and get back fast,” Rubin said.

  They silently left the area and made their way back to base camp as fast as they could.

  Bridgman, Michigan

  Mike and Jada stood in the dark. Fifty yards away was their target for the night.

  It had taken them some time to locate the man. There were no fires, and Mike had been afraid the group had vacated the area. Taking their time, they moved from building to building, careful not to disturb trash and debris. Mike wasn’t sure if the people were smart enough to set up early warning, but he didn’t want to take chances. It was slow moving.

  There was no noise, no movement. Then, Mike saw a flickering light in the back of a storefront. Someone was there. He and Jada hunkered down behind a dump truck and waited for an hour. They were finally rewarded when two men exited the store, moving with care and stealth. They were definitely spooked.

  Mike placed a hand on Jada’s arm and pulled her farther into the shadows. They watched as the two men made their way up the street and ducked into another building.

  He leaned forward and whispered into Jada’s ear, “Let’s stay put, I think someone’s still in that store.”

  He felt rather than saw her nod.

  Twenty minutes later, three more men came out of the storefront, looking furtively around, their features hidden and indistinct in the darkness. Hugging the wall, they made their way to the building the first two had disappeared into.

  Mike signaled to move toward the storefront. They squatted behind an abandoned car, twenty feet from the store front. A few minutes later, three more left the store front, moving up the street quickly at a crouch.

  Mike tapped Jada, and they made their way to the store, going back behind the structure. There were no usable exits that they could find, and a door had been sealed from the outside with numerous boards, nailed into both door and frame. It was the same with the two windows to the building. They made their way back to the front.

  Jada had given him important intel when they’d first met, regarding the number of men in the group. He hadn’t wanted to mention it, but he thought perhaps he’d seen Jada’s sister that day he and Stephen had seen a woman being pulled by a rope. He felt deep shame that he and Stephen hadn’t helped her. They’d feared for their lives, but they’d done nothing. It had turned and bitten them on the ass.

  He could postulate a thousand times whether, if they’d done something, his friends would still be alive, but it would serve no good except to make him feel even worse than he already did. He could spend the rest of his life wrestling with that choice and the consequences, and he knew he’d never have an answer.

  Bringing himself back from the dark thoughts, he returned his mind to the present task. He and Jada pressed their bodies to the wall and waited for the last person to come out. He was beginning to think they’d missed their chance when he heard footsteps from within. Cigarette smoke reached him, and he turned his head in that direction. His heart jumped, and he patted Jada quickly behind him as he pulled his knife and crouched, waiting for the man to come out.

  The man stepped out, his back to Mike as he closed the door to the store. The man was almost as tall as Mike, but thinner. Mike’s long arm shot out and he grabbed the man by the face, covering his mouth with his gloved hand. At the same time, he brought the boning knife to the man’s throat.

  It went down like clockwork. Mike knew that, after this killing, he and Jada would need to leave the area for a while. They’d head back to Janet’s home and lay low for a while. They’d kicked the beehive, and Mike suspected the men would now tear this place and the surrounding area apart.

  Mike kept watch while Jada did her part. He knew she needed to vent her demons and the rage that bubbled just below the surface. She fairly vibrated with it. He understood that rage all too well. He felt satisfaction too, even if vicariously. Once she was finished, their steps were rapid as they fled the block.

  They were nearly five blocks from the body before they heard shouting and gunfire. Mike figured the body had been discovered and the man’s friends were not happy. Mike looked over his shoulder, but they weren’t being pursued.

  He grabbed Jada’s arm to get her attention, then ran. His long legs ate up the distance. Ragged breathing fell away behind him, telling him Jada wasn’t managing. She didn’t have the stamina.

  He turned and took off his backpack as he waited for her to catch up. He handed her his backpack.

  “Get on my back, we have to get the hell out of here.”

  Jada was wheezing hard, but nodded her head and swung the pack onto her back. He squatted, and Jada placed her hands on his shoulders and hopped on his back. Mike stood, and began to run. He was amazed at her lack of weight; her clothes hid a frail woman.

  Mike didn’t bother with stealth or caution. He ran down the middle of the street, where he could see. He knew that once those men got into a vehicle, they would have to get off the road, but until he heard or saw a vehicle, he was running as fast as his long legs could carry him. He just wished Jada didn’t stink so badly. The nose deafness had fled, leaving him to smell the sour sweat and fear that emanated from every pore.

  He began to slow his pace after he hit the tenth block. He was become winded, and Jada’s weight was becoming more noticeable. They no longer heard gunshots, which was good. He stopped, and Jada dropped off his back and removed the backpack.

  Mike was pretty confident the men might have pursued during the day, but the mess they’d made of the latest kill would give them pause in the dark. No matter how many guns you had, walking up on that mess would curl the milk in anyone’s stomach. Jada had a lot of rage. Once more, the specter of guilt and shame crept over Mike.

  They walked. They’d put enough distance between themselves and the raiders that it was safe to move at a slower pace. He slow
ed his stride and let Jada set the pace. They could duck behind or inside a building if they heard pursuit.

  “You think they’ll follow us?” Jada whispered, her voice barely audible over the wind.

  “I think they’ll make a lot of noise, maybe go from building to building, but I don’t think they’ll strike out at night. I think the mess you made of that asshole will keep them looking over their shoulders,” Mike said. “Remind me never to piss you off,” he joked, then regretted it.

  “Sorry. I mean it. I’ve been wanting to tell you something. I’ve been afraid and ashamed to tell you. I think I saw your sister when my friend and I were here. I’m not sure, but I think we saw them leading her by a rope around her neck,” he said, his voice soft, his face tight with restrained emotion.

  “It was her. I saw them dragging her by the rope too. They took her into a brownstone. There wasn’t anything I could do.” Her voice cracked. Mike couldn’t see her face, but he could hear the raw emotion.

  “I’m so sorry we didn’t help her. If we had, maybe she would still be alive, and maybe my friends would be alive.”

  “Just the two of you? They’d have cut you down. Maybe all three of us, or a couple more would have helped, but I don’t have a gun, and getting in close with a cleaver doesn’t cut it, no pun intended.”

  Mike appreciated her grim humor. She was right, and confirmed his thoughts. But it didn’t ease the guilt and grief. He doubted it ever would. It would be a thorn in his heart he would have to live with.

  “Yeah, you’re right. But we will rid the world of those scum,” Mike said, his voice laced with anger.

  “How long will we wait before going back?” Jada asked.

  Turning up a residential road, they moved farther away and out of the raiders’ territory. Mike thought for a bit. He’d planned to not return home until he’d killed them all, but he had to make sure Jada was safe. It was more difficult to watch out for her too.

  “I’m thinking maybe a week or two. They’re going to be on high alert now, so I doubt we could even get close to them. The danger factor has tripled, and the odds would be against us. It’s also getting near planting season.”

  “Planting season?” Jada asked, surprise clear in her voice.

  “Janet has a good-sized plot of cleared ground. She said she grows her garden there. She now has more people living with her: me, Zack, and you,” Mike said. “I want to make sure that we get her garden ready for planting before we go back out. I’ve got to catch fish and get it into the ground and get it rotting so it can fertilize the soil.”

  “Fish?” Jada asked.

  “Yeah. We no longer have cow manure, store-bought fertilizers and other commercial fertilizers. So, we have to make do. If we had chickens, we could use chicken poop. We have to prepare the soil now so it has time to break down,” Mike said, warming to his subject.

  “No wonder you seem so healthy. Have you done this a lot?” Jada asked.

  Mike laughed. “No. In fact, this will be my first garden, but Alisa and...” He broke off, his voice cracking. He felt Jada’s small hand on his arm, and he patted it gently.

  It took him a moment to contain the rampant grief that washed over him. He swallowed and tried to blink away the tears. Sometimes the sorrow hit him like a ton of bricks, leaving him breathless.

  Clearing his voice, he said, “It’s okay. I’m okay. It’s…you know.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Jada said softly

  “Anyway, we read about gardening. This would have been our first garden. Now, I will be helping Janet. We were lucky. The seeds we collected were down in the basement when those bastards burned down my home. So, we will have seeds to grow.”

  “Are you sure I won’t be a burden on you and Janet? I don’t think she expects another mouth to feed,” Jada said in a small voice, and Mike could hear the uncertainty, hope, and fear.

  “Janet had a lot of food. She’d hoped her children would come home to her when the virus hit, but they never came. She has a large cellar filled with jars of food, and cans and cans of stuff,” Mike said. “Me and Stephen...” he said, and paused a moment, then continued, “Me and Stephen dug a huge pit for her after Zack was born. She helped Alisa with the birth, so we paid her back by doing some heavy work for her.”

  Mike stopped, and looked around. He listened awhile, then they turned up another road. “We took a lot of the stuff she had gathered and put it in the pit, hiding it. We put some of our stuff in there too. We had planned on digging our own pit this spring.”

  “Wow, that is really smart,” Jada said, her voice filled with wonder. “We were hoping the government would help us, but when the computer virus hit, we knew we were on our own. We had supplies put away, but our home was broken into and everything was taken,” Jada said sadly.

  Mike grunted, and wondered once more how she and her sister had survived as long as they had. They turned up another road and found an abandoned house off the road.

  “This looks like a good place. It’s off the main drag, and far enough back I doubt anyone would pay attention. It looks pretty broken down,” Mike said. He figured they could stop there for the day. It was getting near dawn, and he knew once daylight hit, the raiders would be out looking. They were far enough away from the raider’s territory that he was fairly sure they’d be safe.

  Jada’s stomach rumbled, and his answered. He didn’t look forward to drinking tank water again, but there was no help for it. At least they had plenty of the granola bars.

  “Sounds good. I’m tired as hell. It’s funny. I used to be a runner. That run kicked my ass three ways to Sunday.” She laughed.

  Mike thought she had a nice laugh, and was glad she could still do it.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Isle of Palms, South Carolina

  Randal, Clive, and Reed rode toward the blockade on their bicycles. Randal and Clive had jotted down some ideas and taken the paper to Reed, who had in turn made a few. They had then set off together for the barricade.

  “Johnny Lee seems to be a permanent fixture at the barricade,” Randal said as they road down the main thoroughfare.

  “Since his wife died, I think he needs to be in the middle of things. Keeps him busy,” Clive said, garnering a look from Randal.

  Johnny Lee was indeed at the barricade and held up a hand in greeting, his broad smile showing his pleasure. Teddy hovered in the background with a few of his friends. It seemed it was a gathering spot for the men and older boys.

  Randal handed the paper to Johnny Lee. “This is a list of what we think we need to make traps, snares, tripwires, and early warning systems,” Randal said as Johnny Lee scanned the paper.

  “We figure those idiots will be back sooner or later, and more than likely with more friends. I think it prudent we try to centralize our small communities,” Clive said. He took a pack of cigarettes out and offered one to Johnny Lee, who smiled and shook his head.

  “We’ve moved some of our people closer to the core housing group. It is easier to defend,” Randal said.

  “We gotta lot of people here who ain’t gonna wanna move from their homes. I can put the word out, an’ maybe we’ll have a few that we can centralize,” Johnny Lee said.

  “Yeah. Ya’ll have a lot more folks living on this island than we do,” Reed picked up the thread, his dark eyes serious. Randal could see the Marine coming out. “Next, we plan to move our vehicles around to make it more difficult for them to get to us. We also figure we’ll boobytrap the vehicles, in case they try to circumvent them.

  “For long term protection, we plan to scavenge and cannibalize fences, and build an extended compound. There is no telling when they will come, but we are hoping that we can get most of it up and going. I kinda feel we’re behind the eight ball, a day late and a sawbuck short.”

  “Well, doggie! That sounds like a big undertaking, but sounds good. How can I help ya’ll out?” Johnny Lee asked.

  “There’s lots on the list. Most important are flares and f
lare guns, NVGs or night vision riflescopes, if possible, any kind of scuba gear – we’re looking for spear guns and air tanks. We’re also looking on our island. I figure we can trade off what we have extra and divvy up between us,” Randal suggested.

  “I’m going to try to rig up some nasty surprises should we become a target again. We can alert one another between radio and flares should they strike at night,” Reed said.

  “How ’bout some large deep-sea fishhooks, thata put a serious hurtin’ on someone. Jerk a knot right in their tails,” Johnny Lee grinned.

  “Yeah, I think we can work with that,” Reed laughed.

  “I was thinking that perhaps we boobytrap the abandoned homes. That will either eliminate some of them or at least warn us with their screams of pain,” Clive suggested.

  Everyone looked at Clive. “I’m impressed, Clive. Didn’t know you had a mean streak,” Randal laughed.

  “Meanness don’t happen overnight. This here young man just gearing up to open a can of whoopass on them fools,” Johnny Lee laughed, slapping Clive on the back.

  The group of men sniggered, and each slapped Clive on the back, who squirmed a little under the attention. Randal noted his grin, though, and smiled at his friend.

  “Also, we need to set up bottlenecks, try to get them to go where we want,” Reed said.

  “They’ll be coming by sea, so they’ve got the entire beach to land on. That will be difficult,” Johnny Lee said.

  “True, but we can try closer to the homes. I’m sure that whatever we do will be a help. It will make them paranoid, at least.

  “Also, we wanted to know if you had found any intact female dogs. We think breeding Mr. Smith would give us some guard dogs in the future,” Reed said.

  “Sure do. Gotta black lab and a real pretty mastiff. That should produce an intimidating pup,” Johnny Lee said, rocking back on his heels. He pulled off the old John Deere ballcap, scratching his head. “I’m gonna get one of them pups. We got some small yappy dogs, and figured those would be good as early warning as well. We got one that needs a home iffin you’re willin’ to take her.”