Life In Death (Book 1): Surviving Death (The Struggle)

by Holmes, Ethan

  “Preferably not,” Steve said.

  Chapter 21

  The Trap

  The next morning after they cleared the area, the group held a meeting to discuss Frank’s plan.

  “So the plan is to blow the hell out of the Biters,” Tommy asked.

  “Yep. As many as we can get,” Frank answered.

  Tommy smiled. “I’m definitely in. This is going to be fun.”

  Natalie shook her head. “I always knew you were insane.”

  “You can’t be EOD without being crazy,” Tommy and Anna said in unison.

  The group chuckled.

  Jim looked at Frank. “You can count me in. I have a little bit of experience in setting up equipment like that.”

  “I can go, too. I know nothing about sound equipment but I can definitely help carry stuff,” Craig said.

  Frank smiled. “Ok. We have a plan. Now we just need a rainy day and all the equipment.”

  “We could always go tomorrow and get that,” Tommy said.

  “I guess we could. Jim, if you could come up with a list of what we need. It needs to be as loud and obnoxious as possible,” Frank said.

  Jim smiled. “Oh, I have the perfect setup in mind.”

  The next day, the team was at a music equipment store. Frank picked the lock and opened the door.

  “Ok, Jim. What did you have in mind,” Frank asked.

  “What we need is speakers that can handle high pitched noise at high volumes without being distorted. I think the higher pitches will get their attention better. Lower pitches will travel farther though so we need music that has plenty of both. Of course, I mean Rock music. We need four, twenty two inch speakers. If we can find a media player to hook up to the speakers, that’s a plus. I could always use mine. Its battery is dead anyway. We will also need a splitter, the speaker wires and an adapter to plug into the player. We will need to stop by a hardware store to pick up a couple of generators.”

  “You know a lot about this stuff,” Tommy said.

  Jim picked up a set of cables from a rack.

  “I was a roadie for a band about six years back. I’m familiar with the industry.”

  “Ok. Let’s get it and go. We will also need about four 55 gallon drums and get them filled with gas,” Frank said.

  After they had everything they needed, they went to the local hardware store. They rummaged through the back room and found three generators just big enough to accommodate the power draw the speakers needed. Now that they had everything they needed, they went home. It was only a matter of time until they had a storm move through their area. They would have to time this right. When they got home, Frank drew up a diagram of what he purposed to make and was going over his plan with Anna and Tommy. Steve and Jim were also there just to see what the plan was. Frank had decided to integrate det cord into his creation. Det cord is spooled explosives that resembles thin rope.

  “So this is what I’m thinking. We are going to use det cord with the blasting caps. So we are going to tape the det cord along the side of the drum that is facing the horde. The hope is that the det cord will split the drum and when the C4 goes in the center of the barrel, it will push the fiery mess onto the Biters. I would much rather use dynamite but we will have to make this work,” Frank explained.

  “If we pack enough C4 into there, it should work wonderfully,” Anna said.

  “I do foresee a problem. How long are we going to be waiting until we get enough Biters in there to use this thing,” Tommy asked.

  ‘He has a point. These things don’t move very fast. We’ll have to go with it for now,’ Frank thought.

  “This will be a trial and error exercise. We will wait until the generators run out of gas. If there aren’t that many, we will just kill of what is there. If there are too many to deal with ourselves then we will just blow it and start again,” Frank said.

  “Fair enough. Sounds like a plan. Now the question is, when do we set it up,” Tommy asked.

  “We just have to wait for a rainy day. We will set it up either when the rain stops or the next day,” Frank said.

  The next few days were uneventful and void of rain. Frank was on the porch drinking coffee, looking up at the sky. Not a cloud in sight. Being in the Midwest that could change very quickly. Anna came out on the porch next to him.

  “Still nothing. It’s kind of odd. We usually get a ton of rain this time of year,” he said.

  “Yeah. Maybe it’s a good thing.”

  He turned to her. “You’re such an optimist. I love you.”

  She smiled. “I love you, too.”

  Later that day, Frank was helping bring some supplies up from the basement when he heard what sounded like thunder. He rushed upstairs and went straight outside. He sat the box down on the porch and looked at the sky. The sky was full of very dark clouds and the air had chilled at least ten degrees. He smiled. Craig came out.

  “Boy… This looks bad,” Craig said.

  “As long as it doesn’t flood and there are no tornados, I’m happy. This is a good thing,” Frank said.

  It started pouring down. Frank turned, grabbed his box and went back inside. It rained all through the night.

  The next morning, they began setting up the trap. They positioned the speakers in all four directions and the drums of fuel in the four corners of the parking lot. There were some cars still parked in the lot so they rigged those with explosives as well.

  ‘Added bonus,’ Frank thought.

  Finally they were ready.

  “Jim, let’s start the party,” Frank said.

  Jim started the generators and his media player. Rock music began playing over the speakers softly.

  “Put your ear plugs in.”

  Frank turned the speakers up to full volume. The sound was obnoxiously loud, even over the ear plugs. Frank motioned for them to load up in the JERRV. They positioned themselves a few hundred yards away from their display and waited. A few Biters were already trickling in. They searched around the speakers, looking for their meal. After they found nothing there to eat, they just stood around as if waiting for something.

  A few hours later, most of the group had fallen asleep. Everyone except for Frank. He was watching the thirty or so Biters that had gathered in the parking lot. Frank glanced in his side mirror and noticed some Biters coming in through the trees. This was not a trickle, more like a flood. The entire tree line was full of Biters.

  ‘Jackpot,’ Frank thought.

  He reached over and shook Anna’s hand. She opened her eyes.

  “What is it, Frank,” Anna asked.

  He pointed to the mirror. She looked through it.

  “Oh, shit…”

  “Guys. Wake up,” Frank said.

  They all woke up with a startle.

  “What is it,” Tommy yelled.

  “Look through the back,” Frank said.

  They all looked through the windows and saw the massive horde moving through the field behind them.

  “Oh my God. There’s hundreds of them…” Craig said.

  “Frank, I think I need some new underwear…” Tommy said.

  Frank smiled. ‘Leave it to him to joke about something serious.’

  It took some time for the horde to move out of the tree line and into the parking lot. Frank estimated there to be at least three hundred Biters in the large parking lot. Frank looked around. There were still one or two stragglers that he could see. He decided that he would go ahead and blow the charges.

  He took out his radio. “Alpha to base.”

  “Base here,” Steve said over the radio.

  “Base, we’re about to blow the charges. You might be able to hear it.”

  “Got it, alpha. We’ll be listening.”

  “Anna, the honor is yours.”

  Anna took the initiator in her hands and waited for Frank.

  Frank raised his radio again. “Fire in the hole.”

  Anna pressed the button. Most of the barrels exploded spewing
liquid fire over the crowd of hungry Biters. The cars burst and flung fire ridden Biters through the air. Frank noticed one barrel that didn’t blow. A whole section of the parking lot was left untouched.

  “Shit,” Frank said to himself.

  Frank jumped out of his seat, moving past the others. He grabbed the AT4 that they leave in the truck and opened the turret hatch. He tossed the launcher through the opening and climbed out on the roof. He made sure there were no Biters around them and readied the launcher. He targeted the barrel and fired. He quickly discarded the spent launcher and jumped into the opening as quickly as he could. Tommy closed the hatch. At the same time the rocket flew through the air, striking the barrel dead center. The barrel exploded, spewing its flaming contents all over the crowd and liquid fire fell just short of the JERRV. Frank moved back to the front seat to see the finished product. The entire crowd was engulfed in flames. Frank looked at Anna. She was shaking her head.

  “So damn reckless…”

  “Yeah, I know. You love me, though,” Frank said, smiling.

  She sighed. “Yes, I do.”

  Frank turned back to the crowd. They still walked around. He watched closely.

  ‘How they hell are they still moving?’ He thought.

  He saw one fall, then two. Dozens of them began to drop.

  ‘Guess their brains are starting to fry,’ he thought. The distinct smell of cooking human flesh was entering the JERRV. The smell was bringing bad memories back for Frank. He repressed his emotions.

  The stragglers had made it to the lot and walked directly into the flames. There were secondary explosions. The gas in the generators had blown from the heat, adding fuel to the fire. Frank waited until the fire had subsided and all of the Biters were dead. Seeing no more movement, he got out of the truck and turned on the power switch then re-entered the truck.

  “Well guys, I think this is a successful mission. Would you agree?” Frank asked.

  “Yep. Can we leave now? This smell is making me nauseous,” Jim said.

  “Yeah.” He retrieved his radio. “Alpha to base. We’re heading home.”

  “Copy, Alpha.”

  Frank started the JERRV and drove them all home. The rest of the group met them in the yard.

  “So how did it go,” Steve asked.

  Anna jumped down from the JERRV. “I wouldn’t say without… how do you say it? A twitch?”

  “Without a hitch, dear. What happened?”

  Frank came around the JERRV. “Bad section of det cord, I’m guessing. Had to use the AT4 on one of the barrels. Job done.”

  “How many did we get?”

  “A whole shit ton. You couldn’t see the pavement there were so many of them. Looked like a rock concert,” Jim said.

  “Damn. Wonder how many there were,” Steve said.

  “I would estimate they were about three hundred strong. Quite possibly more,” Frank said.

  “Holy shit! Really,” Jesse said.

  “Really. I would like to do this area as well. Find a nice barren construction area that we can set on fire,” Frank said.

  “That would be nice,” Steve said.

  Later that day, some of the group was at the kitchen table having dinner. Frank was standing eating the food on his plate behind Anna.

  “So, Frank,” Jim said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Do you want to drive around tomorrow and look for a spot to set up our next trap?”

  “Yeah, we can do that. We don’t have much planned for tomorrow,” Frank said.

  “Craig, do you know of any construction sites around here or any nice, muddy clearings?” Frank asked.

  “I have a clearing about 2 miles down the road that would probably work. It’s a plowed field that is probable over run with weeds by now,” Craig said.

  “That would work. Let’s go over there tomorrow and see what we have to work with,” Frank said.

  “Sounds good,” Craig said.

  “Think we can go with diesel fuel this time? We don’t have enough gas as it is,” Anna asked.

  “Unfortunately, no. Diesel doesn’t burn that well,” Frank answered.

  Natalie came over to the table. “Do you guys always think about work?”

  Tommy was about to answer but Anna beat him to the punch. “Blowing stuff up is not really work to us.”

  The group laughed.

  The next morning, Jim, Craig and Frank were driving down to the area Craig had mentioned. When they arrived, Frank walked out to the field. It was full of lush green weeds.

  “This will be more than enough space. We need to go back on base for more explosives and blasting caps,” Frank said.

  “I think we can do that today. It’s still pretty early. Might as well do it while we’re on a roll,” Jim said.

  Frank thought about it. He had enough people to make it happen safely.

  “Let’s go back and give it a go. If I can’t get enough volunteers, then it can wait. I would like to do this tomorrow while the area is still wet.” He looked at the sky. “Looks like we might get more rain tonight.”

  Jim and Craig looked at each other.

  “I think you can count us in,” Craig said.

  When they got home he called a group meeting.

  “Ok, guys. You all know about the success we had yesterday. We are looking to duplicate the results soon. To do that, we need to raid the bunkers on post. We might as well make a run for more generators and speakers. I was hoping to go today. Any volunteers?” Frank said.

  “Bunkers? Explosives? You can count me in,” Tommy said.

  Anna giggled. “You would make any excuse to go to the bunkers, Tommy.”

  “Hey! It’s my second favorite place to be,” Tommy said.

  Natalie looked at him. “What the first favorite?”

  Tommy looked at her. “With you.”

  “Awe,” the group said in unison, then laughed.

  “You can count me in,” Anna said.

  “That makes five. Anyone else,” Frank asked.

  “I can go,” Jesse said. Others had raised their hands but Frank had enough people.

  “Thank you, guys. Six of us should be more than enough. Grab your gear, eat if you haven’t yet and meet me back here when you’re ready. The sooner, the better,” Frank ordered.

  About fifteen minutes later, the group was loading up into three separate vehicles. Together they made it on post and pulled into the bunker area. Frank thought about anything else they needed while they are here. It hit him. He looked at Anna.

  “What is it, Frank?” she asked.

  Frank took out his radio. “Alpha to Bravo.”

  “Bravo here,” Tommy replied.

  “We need more AT4s. Lead the others while we go and get them.”

  “Will do. Be careful, Alpha.”

  Frank pulled the van in front of the infantry’s bunker that they raided before.

  They walked in and immediately grab four AT4s and a few crates of ammunition. They put them in the back of the van and headed over to meet Tommy. As they pulled up, the group was already loading the explosives into the JERRV.

  “You guys good,” Frank asked

  “Yeah. Just loading up the last of it. You,” Tommy asked.

  “Yeah. We went ahead and grabbed some extra ammo.”

  “Good thinking,” Tommy said.

  After everything was loaded they went to the big hardware depot. Frank looked into the parking lot and saw a trailer they could use. He took out his radio.

  “Alpha to Charlie.”

  “Charlie here,” Craig answered.

  “Charlie, pull over to that trailer. We’re going to grab it. Bravo, grab your bolt cutters,” Frank said.

  “Will do,” Tommy answered.

  Craig pulled in front of the trailer and Tommy cut the bolt for the trailer hitch lock. To save time, Tommy drug the trailer to Craig’s truck and attached it himself. Satisfied, they proceeded to the overhead door entrance. Frank picked the lock to the door and slid them
open.

  “It’s going to take time to get this stuff loaded.” Frank motioned to Jim and Anna. “We’ll grab the generators. You guys get the barrels. Same amount as last time.”

  “Got it,” Tommy said.

  Once they had everything loaded, they retrieved what they needed from the music store. Frank looked at his watch. It was only noon. They had finished everything with plenty of time to spare. Frank looked at Anna, who was driving the van.

  “We finished pretty early today. What do you think? Wait until tomorrow or try today,” Frank asked.

  “I don’t know. We already have everything loaded and ready to go. Might as well try today,” Anna said.

  She was right. It was still pretty soggy outside and they had plenty of time to lure Biters in to their trap. He took out his radio.

  “Bravo, Charlie, what do you guys think about setting up today,” Frank asked.

  “That’s fine with me. If we do it tomorrow then we have to unload half this crap tonight,” Tommy said.

  “What he said. It’s only noon. We still have about nine hours of daylight,” Craig said.

  “Ok. We’ll head over to the site now. You copy, base?”

  “We copy. Happy hunting and don’t blow your fingers off,” Steve said.

  “Will do,” Frank said with a chuckle.

  Frank directed Anna on where to go. Once they arrived, they set the trap up the exact same way they did before.

  “Alpha to base,” Frank called out on his radio.

  “Base here,” Steve replied.

  “Get everyone inside and in the basement until further notice. Biters might be coming through your area to get to us. Be sure to take something down to occupy the kids time. You’ll be down there for a while.”

  “Will do,” Steve said. Frank put away his radio.

  “Alright. Ear plugs in. Let’s start the party,” Frank ordered.

  Jim turned on the multi-disk CD player they took from the music store. Staying true to his style, rock music started playing over the speakers. Frank turned up the volume. Frank had them position the two unarmored cars on the opposite side of the JERRV, just in case any shrapnel had been tossed at them. All of the group members were in the JERRV, watching and waiting. Hours past and the group watched horde after horde come to investigate the musical disturbance.