“Doesn’t change the fact that we need a plow does it? We’ll make it happen. Bitching about it won’t change shit. Tomorrow I think we should head out, maybe west so we can stay near the coast, but also head more towards the center of the country. I know some of you guys have been talking about maybe leaving the group to head home to find your families. Maybe that’ll help you if you decide to do that.”
Several of the men present nodded. Each had loved ones they desperately wanted to find, but they also didn’t want to leave their friends and fellow servicemen behind. If anything, the bond they shared here was still quite firm, and quite tangible. Leaving this group might be more painful than they realized.
Kevin tested his idea again. “So if everyone is cool with that, we head out at first light and start moving. When we get a day or so out of the city, we’ll start looking for towns to set up in.”
No one argued, and so it was settled.
*****
Joel calmly walked from window to window in the upstairs offices of the building the group had fortified hastily earlier that night. It was far from perfect, but still better than some of the places they’d had to stay at since they arrived in the States. They'd stayed at abandoned factories, strip malls, a ransacked hotel on the side of a state route, and more than one pillaged restaurant. Anyplace they thought would be safe enough for a night. They had been traveling like that for months now, since the end of June, and it had been tough on the group.
The roads were a mess. There were innumerable accidents in the streets and on the highways. Undead were spread across the land so thick in some places it was easier to turn their vehicles around than drive into the mass and risk injury or damage to their vehicles. Almost every single living person they came across was the shoot first, ask questions later type as well. It didn't help them that they were in military-issued humvees either. They’d found no friends on their journey thus far.
To transport all the contents of the MC-130 they’d flown from the Azores to the suburbs of Boston where they were, the group had to commandeer a pair of small box trucks from a beer distribution facility in Maine. Fortunately, the beer was still on site at the warehouse, and most of it was still in date, and drinkable. A day or two spent there celebrating their successful landing at the Bangor airport, and they moved out. Travel was slow. In addition to the undead, and terrible roads, both box trucks broke down on separate occasions, and they had to hit nearly every single town on the way to scour for fuel. Diesel was gone from almost every station, and the men took to siphoning fuel from home heating oil tanks. Their fuel needs became so consistent with the four vehicles that two weeks ago, when they found an abandoned and empty fuel truck at a gas station, they took the time to fix it, and get it running again. After they spent the entirety of three days filling it, they were now the proud owners of a truck filled with almost 7,000 gallons of Diesel. Aside from being a rolling bomb, it made their lives much easier.
Joel cradled his rifle and walked as silently as he could from window to window, watching for threats on the ground outside their sanctuary. He checked his watch and noted that the time was half past three in the morning. Another half hour and he’d be waking Roger up to take watch. Joel padded over to the smooth glass window that faced east and looked down at the parking lot, searching out for anything that was dangerous. He took a sharp breath when saw that there were a handful of undead that hadn't been there on his last pass. He flipped down his night optics off the front of his helmet and did a quick scan. Nine upright dead bodies, all standing out in the open area of a parking lot. Joel continued to watch as he gauged the threat, and tried to formulate a plan to deal with them. As he did so, they began to move in a peculiar way.
Joel’s mouth opened in amazement when he saw them gather into three groups of three, and come to a perfect stillness, looking directly up at him. Joel turned and bolted for the room the others were sleeping in. Three groups of three. This was clearly a message from on-high.
*****
Some time later the group gathered in the upstairs office to look at the spectacle outside.
“And they just stopped moving when they grouped up into three groups of three like this? And then they all looked right up here at you?” Kevin asked as he looked out the window at the nine frozen undead.
“Yeah. Just like I said. I remember the three fires, and the whole three thing. It was far too creepy and weird to be a coincidence. Shit guys they are still there. Look, they are still looking at us right now. And they aren’t doing anything. Hell, it’s been almost an hour. That seem normal to you?” Joel said back somewhat frustrated.
Michelle spoke, “This is not normal. This is clearly a sign for us. To what end, I don’t know. We’re supposed to see this. Maybe this is a sign that we are on the right track?”
“That’d be a pleasant change of pace. This wandering bullshit is getting dangerous and old,” Jaden said from his spot leaning against the window. His crude prosthetic leg was still causing him soreness.
Far off in the distance on the streets of the large town they were in the group picked up on the glow of artificial lights. It was the first sign of living people they’d seen in weeks. Michelle flinched as every weapon safety in the room clicked off simultaneously. It was a sound she dreaded.
“Cover and firing positions,” Kevin said as he dropped slowly to a knee. He fully expected the approaching vehicle to be hostile. Every other vehicle had been.
As the headlights grew closer and more intense Kevin watched as the nine undead stood firm. Normally the undead would turn and immediately move towards light and noise but instead these nine held their footing, and paid no attention to the vehicle. Kevin looked over to Michelle and saw that she saw the same. This vehicle was also no coincidence. They were meant to see it. They had been drawn to this window, at precisely this time to see it.
“It’s a humvee. No turret. Looks like guard maybe,” Roger, one of Jaden’s para-rescue men said. He was looking through the night optics on his bolt-action rifle.
“Someone grab a fucking radio fast. Let’s try and get them on the horn,” Kevin said. Fitz, his older right hand man was already on it.
Fit got the radio turned on and hit the transmit button on his collar. He spoke with urgency. “Unidentified military humvee, please identify yourself immediately. You have come in to our perimeter and are in our line of fire. Please respond immediately.” He avoided normal protocol for fear that the vehicle might be driven by someone who wasn’t even in the military. This far along, who knew who was driving what.
In the distance the vehicle slowed to a crawl, and came to a stop a few seconds later. The headlamps turned off and the streets went black again. Only the men in the office with night vision could see the truck as it sat there, strangely menacing in the center of a narrow street. The lights going out was a bad sign.
The radio cackled to life with a response. It was a female voice. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. We aren’t here to shoot anyone or steal anything. We’re looking for a few people. We thought they’d be near here.”
Fitz looked around at the group but most of them had their eyes fixed behind the sights of their weapons. Kevin looked over his shoulder at Fitz and reached out to take the small handset off Fitz’s shoulder. The older operator leaned to his friend so the cord didn't yank him.
“Who are you looking for ma'am? Are friends of yours lost?” Kevin was intrigued by the woman’s statement, but also wondered if this was a ploy to get them off their guard.
“I don’t think you’d believe me,” she said calmly, almost with half a laugh in her voice.
“I think you’d be surprised what we would believe ma'am. We’ve been around and seen some stuff of late.” Kevin smirked.
“Well, we’re here at the request of a dead man, and a man that’s almost dead. They thought we’d be able to find the two people that could complete a trinity of people. We’ve been looking for weeks in this area, and we haven’t found them yet. “
Michelle perked up visibly as she turned to Kevin. Kevin smiled at her as felt a wave of relief come over him. Finally they had found their messenger.
“Ma'am what’s your name? My name is Kevin, I’m what passes for a leader with my group.”
“My name is Angie, and my boyfriend here, while he’s here, is Raef. This may sound strange, but is there any chance you know where two people are that might be calling themselves members of The Trinity? It's important that we get a message to them.”
“Angie I have been called the Warden. One of my associates here has been called the Savior. We are the people you are looking for. Now if you give us a few minutes to sort out the nine zombies that are arranged in three groups of three outside our door, we’d be happy to set up a meeting with you. Wait…” Kevin paused, “What do you mean when you say your boyfriend while he’s here? He leaving shortly? Does he have a flight to catch?
“It’s very complicated. His health is… well, lacking. Be careful with those dead people. If you start making noise, you’ll bring an army of them down on us.”
Kevin smiled as he watched several of his men screw suppressors onto their pistols. “I don’t think noise will be too much of a concern Angie. Sit tight. As much as I want to trust you, we’ve had some issues with unfriendly people of late, so if you start moving about being sketchy, we will light you up. We’ll find another messenger if we have to. Nothing personal.”
“Roger that. You know, you remind me a lot of the guy that’s looking for you. That’s funny,” Angie said.
Kevin couldn’t resist, “What’s his name?”
“Adrian Ring.”
Kevin was at a loss for words. He laughed out loud in the office and all of his friends looked at him. The potential savior of mankind, and the person they'd traveled halfway around the world to try and find was an old Army buddy, and great friend of his.
It was a day of conspicuous coincidences.
*****
After dispatching the nine zombies in the parking lot with suppressed weapons the group summoned the humvee to the same spot. They asked for Angie and her boyfriend Raef to step out of the truck with only side arms. They came out unarmed entirely, which spoke to their genuine cause.
Michelle greeted them with large, warm hugs. She embraced Angie first, and Raef second. As soon as she took Raef into her arms, she recoiled, surprised. “You’re deathly cold," she said to him. "Are you ill?”
Raef smiled warmly, and Michelle felt a small surge of life come from him. “Oh no ma'am. I’m dead.”
Now that she was closer she could see that Raef was indeed not alive, but not like the zombies that infested the world. He was sunken with dark circles under his equally dark eyes, and his skin was as gray as ash. His hair was short, cut like a military man's and his scalp looked almost like bone. He stared with an intensity that came from seeing things people were never meant to see. He was a wraith. Michelle backed away as most of the men standing quietly in the rising light of dawn drew their weapons once more and aimed them directly at Raef’s head. They all knew where to shoot if they had to.
Kevin talked to the young man over the sights of his handgun. “Dead? Perhaps you could be more elaborate young man. We’ve had a lot of experience with the dead walking around, and you don’t seem to fit the bill.”
Raef smiled once more, expecting the reaction he was getting. “I imagine you’re quite nervous. Despite what I look like I assure you though I’m no harm. I’ve been sort of drafted to run errands for someone I think she knows.” Raef pointed to Michelle.
“Who?” Michelle asked.
“Gilbert? I believe you know him. He’s dead. You already knew that. Originally his plan was to have Gavin meet you, but his girlfriend is really busy right now, and he couldn’t get her attention to make this happen. It was a bit of strange fucked-up luck that I died and Angie didn’t. I didn’t believe any of this. I thought it was all bullshit but here I am," Raef said, shrugging. "I died. And now I’m back. Sent back down the tunnel of light to get some stuff done I guess you could say. Of course now that we’ve found you, I think my time here is almost up.” Raef looked to his young girlfriend with those dark, deep eyes. He saw that his words cut her, but it was wasn’t news for them. His time on Earth again was borrowed.
“So you’re an intelligent zombie?” Kevin said as some of the men put their guns away. Others kept their weapons at the ready.
“No. I’m more of what I’d call a ghost. We can muster enough strength for me to be here for a few hours a day, but it takes a whole lot of effort. I don’t think we could do it without Adrian helping too. Mixed blessing that he got shot like he did.”
“Shot? What’re you talking about shot? Is he dead?” Michelle asked in a panic.
“Not dead. He’s in a coma. We think he got shot in the neck. He’s been down for… weeks now. Time is getting short for him though. Every day he slips a little further towards never coming back. They need you, and fast.”
"Who is 'they?'" Kevin asked.
"I'll get to that. Well, Angie will get to that. I suspect she'll have to fill you in on a lot of the details," Raef said.
“Well let’s go. Kevin get the men to pack up, we can leave right now,” Michelle said almost dismissively, as if it would be work at all.
“Hold on blondie," Kevin said laughing at her. "There’s a lot more we need to learn before we just go traipsing off into the dark. We need distances, roads, expected enemy forces, supplies, etc. Lots of stuff to go over. Raef, how far away are they?”
“I don’t know exactly. Maybe three hundred miles? I know the straight routes on the interstate are fucked, because we had to skirt all over the place to avoid massive accidents, and huge herds of undead. It could take us three or four days to get there. I have no idea. Angie can lead you when I’m gone.”
“Let’s get inside the building. Get the rest of the skinny, then we can move out after. Angie, Raef, I’m glad you made it to us,” Kevin said.
“Us too.” Angie reached over and took the hand of her dead boyfriend. Michelle smiled at the strange young couple as they walked towards the entrance to the office building. The meaning of death had once again changed for her. Perhaps the meaning of love too.
*****
Days had passed. Raef was gone, faded away when the dawn's light chased him back to whatever passed for an afterlife now. Angie had sobbed, but he had accomplished what needed to be done.
“We do NOT have time for this,” Fitz said in his gruff manner to Kate as he hopped out of the driver’s seat of the box truck. It was a shorter fall to the ground than he was accustomed to. The truck had yet another flat tire. The light of the afternoon was fading fast and the temperature was going with it. They needed to find shelter soon, or spend another night sleeping in their vehicles on some side road, hoping nothing saw them.
“Ah shit," Kate said as she looked at the blown tire. She turned and scanned the area around the truck, fully expecting a dozen undead to be there.
“Fitzy how long to swap it out? Hour like last time?” Kevin asked his friend over the radio. They’d had multiple flat tires over the past few months and they were getting very good at changing them. In another time, they’d be shoe-ins as NASCAR pit crew members.
“Looks like a boring ass flat. You keep anything moving off our backs, and we’ll have it done in forty-five.” Fitz was already walking to the back of the truck where they kept the spares. Near every time they drove by a truck with the same kind of tire they tried to stop and take one. There were precious few tire shops still open, and they were going through tires faster than they could've imagined.
Kevin walked around the front of his humvee as Roger, one of the PJs sat in the turret seat above. They had mounted their SAWs in the turrets, and he was panning left to cover one side of the street in the small country town they were in. Rows of small white buildings housed mom and pop shops, mingling in with large multi-family homes. Everything was clustered too close togeth
er for Kevin's liking, leaving too few open spaces to use as buffers against attack. Kevin estimated there might’ve been five hundred souls in the small blip of a town when there were still souls around.
Kevin hoped the souls had set sail, and weren’t still in harbor.
*****
“Fitzy, how long? This is taking way longer than it should. There are multiple tangos closing in on us. I’d rather not open fire if need be,” Kevin asked he leaned over the hood of the humvee, putting the tiny red dot of his AimPoint sight on the head of a shambling zombie. There were maybe twenty undead within eyesight, and they were closing in. The group had less than five minutes before they had to do something.
“Kev brother, I’m sorry. The damn jack broke on this truck and we had to switch to the other one. We’re still ten minutes out. Buy us some time.”
“Roger that. One man per vehicle, engage on foot as you can. Try and conserve ammo. Use the pistols and suppressors if we have to. Less noise is always good.” Kevin issued his commands flat as he dug a crowbar out of the front seat of the humvee. He looked over his shoulder at Roger up in the turret as he walked away towards the closest undead. “Cover me please.”
“Like stink on shit Kev,” Roger said flatly, never taking his eyes off the undead Kevin headed towards.
Adrian's Undead Diary (Book 7): The Trinity Page 24