The serious looking soldier in the front Humvee of the convoy yelled down to Sanchez and Kowalski, “Sergeant, get those civilians into the second truck now!”
“He must be the Major,” thought Stephen.
Sanchez yelled at the students, “Follow me!”
He led them alongside the convoy, with Kowalski in the rear, passing several other Humvees. On the other side of the guardrail was the third soldier who had held back and Stephen saw that he was the one who opened fire. The infected Nick had seen earlier were now coming out of the same trees that the students had recently emerged from.
When they reached the second truck, Sanchez hopped in the back first to help the students into the truck. Lucy went first, grabbing hold of the soldier’s hand, she was pulled in and told to sit on one of the bench seats on either side. Dave was next, offering his good arm to Sanchez he grunted as he fell into the truck. Stephen and Nick were nearly all the way in when Sanchez turned around to help them.
After everyone was seated, Sanchez pressed his comm link and said, “Civilians secure Major.” He listened for a second and again said, “Copy that.”
Moving to the end of the truck, Sanchez leaned out and said, “Ok Kowalski, time to …”
By the time Sanchez had seen the infected person it was too late. The thing had crawled up the hill and around the guardrail unseen. Everyone was looking up, not down. It had grabbed ahold of Kowalski’s boots and pulled his feet out from under him. Caught by surprise and still holding the hatchet he had procured from Nick, he fumbled with his weapon and was unable to get off a shot before he hit the ground hard. The collision caused him to drop the hatchet. Before he knew it, the man was on him.
Sanchez, having placed his rifle down to help the students into the truck, reached for his sidearm. He took aim on the infected man and fired once, hitting it square in the head and removing most of its skull. The man went limp and Kowalski was able to push him off. Trying to get up, he rolled over and looked at Sanchez. It was then he put his hand up to his neck and felt the deep gash left by the infected man. Looking at his hand he saw the blood dripping from his fingers.
Kowalski nodded in Sanchez’ direction and said weakly, “Go ahead, you gotta do it man.” Sanchez hesitated. His friend continued, “You can’t leave me like this … please.”
Looking down at his friend, Sanchez knew it was over for him. There was nothing anyone could do for him now. Well, almost nothing. Sanchez raised his sidearm one more time and did his buddy one final favor.
Sanchez moved back into the truck and sat on the bench across from Stephen. After holstering his weapon, he stared down at the ground for a second. Reaching for his comm button, he paused a moment as if to gather himself, then spoke in even tones, “Major, we lost Kowalski,” then added with more urgency, “we need to move now sir, those things coming up from behind us will be here any minute.”
This time he did not wait for a response, he took his hand off the button and leaned back against the side of the truck banging his head against the canvass lining. Turning his head to the left he looked out at the fuel truck behind them and then beyond it to the approaching horde of infected. A few seconds later, the truck lurched forward and they were once again moving.
Stephen looked at the soldier sitting directly across from him, the axe between his legs, and saw he was obviously distraught. He had lost one of his friends while saving Stephen and his friends. He did not know what to do or say. He felt like he should thank him but could not quite form the words. Would a thank you even be enough; it seemed to Stephen to be inadequate. Surely soldiers are trained, even prepared, for the loss of life. Be it the enemy, or a buddy, and even their own.
Finally, Stephen said, “Sorry about your friend.”
Sanchez looked at Stephen with a hard stare but said nothing. He then looked at Nick sitting to Stephen’s left and then to Lucy and Dave sitting to his right on the same side of the truck. Gripping the butt of his rifle tighter he looked down and shook his head ever so slightly. He looked back up and locked eyes with Stephen. He was about to say something when his head jerked slightly and he put his hand up to his ear. Something was coming through his comm link.
Major Bradley was very upset. No, make that pissed off. He always loathed losing men under his command. He had lost quite a few during his time in Korea; but as an officer it was his job to make decisions and sometimes those decisions put people in harm’s way. That, however, was not what had him really fuming; it was that this outcome, he felt, could have been avoided. Losing someone was one thing, losing someone unnecessarily, was another.
Major Bradley pressed the comm link button and then cleared his throat.
“Listen up,” the Major began then paused, not for effect, but to make sure everyone was listening. “We lost a good man today. I want each of you, in your own way to pay your respects when you feel the time is right. But I also want this to serve as a lesson. We cannot afford to be lax in our diligence. We must remain steadfast in our attention to detail. We are in uncharted territory here men. We must be prepared for anything at any time.” Pausing again; this time for effect, he concluded by saying, “We should be at the extraction point within the hour. That is all.”
He hoped that his men would take his speech to heart. He could ill afford to lose another man. Not just from an emotional standpoint but from a cold hard analytical standpoint; he did not have that many men to begin with.
The convoy continued on the Beltway without incident, while the Major scanned the areas they passed with his binoculars for any sign of civilians. None were found. Although they had traveled this same route picking up civilians before, he was still a little surprised they had not encountered anyone else besides the four young people at the overpass.
He did, of course, spot plenty of infected people wandering around aimlessly. He instructed his men to leave them alone if they were not a direct threat to the convoy or any civilians. Thankfully, very few of the infected were on the highway and the convoy was able to maneuver around the abandoned cars with little trouble.
Exiting the Beltway the convoy headed west towards Frederick. As they neared the airport the Major trained his binoculars toward the tarmac. He spotted three Chinook helicopters preparing for takeoff behind the tower.
He turned in his seat and said, “Simmons, see if you can raise anyone on those helicopters.”
“Yes sir,” replied Simmons.
As the convoy turned right onto Monocacey Boulevard, Simmons said, “I have a Captain Jeter on the comm sir, pilot of Rescue Six.”
The Major was about to speak when he saw the birds taking off. Speaking quickly he said, “Captain, this is Major Charles Bradley, I have four civilians en-route, ETA five minutes, I need you to remain grounded until I can deliver, over.”
“Sorry sir, that’s a negative, all three birds are full up, over,” the Captain responded.
“When is your estimated return time, over?” Bradley asked.
“Sorry again sir, that’s a negative on our return, this site has been shut down. It’s been deemed too hot by Colonel Jepson. We are moving farther west, over.”
Furious, Major Bradley yelled, “What the hell do you mean you’re not coming back.”
“Sorry, major our orders are to move to extraction point delta. This one is no longer active. Emergency broadcasts are being updated as we speak. Rescue six, over … and out.”
Major Bradley was about to tell Simmons to try and reach Colonel Jepson when Sinclair said, “Sir, up ahead. What would you like me to do?”
The Major refocused his attention to what was in front of the convoy. It was the temporary processing gate. He surveyed the makeshift entry point and being in no mood to waste time, he leaned over and told his Sinclair, “Run it.”
“Yes sir, no problem.”
Private Sinclair hit the accelerator and crashed through the chain-link breaking the gate apart at the posts. The Major lifted his binoculars again and peered out toward the a
irport. Off to the left he noticed several rows of cars parked rather haphazardly; obviously left by those civilians who were fortunate enough to get on one of the helicopters. A group of what appeared to be three people, one adult and two children were making their way toward the parked cars. They were moving rather quickly so the Major assumed they were human but after what had happened to Kowalski, he was not taking any chances.
“Private, head to those parked cars over there,” he said pointing to the left adding, “and be alert.”
“Yes sir,” Private Sinclair answered.
Kimberly Walker had decided to see if she could find her father’s car among the several hundred that were parked in field of grass across from the airport. She figured if they made it here their car would be here. She really hoped the car was there. It would mean that her parents were probably safe. With Jason, still holding the golf club, and Danielle in tow, never more than a few feet away from her, they reached the rows of cars.
Kimberly was looking for a light blue 2028 Toyota Sequoia. The relatively short trip here from her parent’s house hopefully meant there was still a fair amount of gas left in the Sequoia; which was good because the Honda was on empty.
For once luck was with her as she spotted the car almost immediately. It was in the last row, fifth from the end. Moving quickly, she ran to the car and read the license plate; indeed it was her dad’s car. She motioned for the kids to get in. The doors were unlocked so she sat in the driver’s seat while the kids jumped in the back. Now all she needed were the keys. She had a spare set in her pocketbook that her parents had given her. As she reached in her purse to look for the keys, she heard the undeniable rumbling of heavy vehicles coming her way.
She looked out the back window and saw a row of military vehicles pass by. It was hard to make out how many or exactly what kind because of the glare of the sun and dust the vehicles were kicking up.
What she did see was a number of men on foot starting to surround her car. She resisted the urge to open the car door and run out waving her hands in the air.
“Stay put,” She told the kids.
Finally one of the soldiers surrounding the car yelled, “If you can hear me, exit the vehicle slowly with your hands in the air.”
Kim nodded to Jason and Danielle that it was ok.
“Slowly,” she said to them.
Kim cracked the driver’s side door open slowly and put one foot on the ground, then the other. She gradually stood up, arms above her head, and turned to face the soldiers. For the first time she got a good look at the convoy. There were seven trucks and about a dozen men as far as she could tell.
“Now turn and face the vehicle, placing your hands on the car,” came the next order.
She turned to comply, now looking at her kids on the other side. For some reason Jason got out on the same side as her sister. He was still, she noticed, holding the club.
After the woman and two kids had been checked for infection, the Major came down from his perch on top of the Humvee and introduced himself.
“Major Charles Bradley, ma’am,” he said extending his hand.
“Kim Walker,” she answered returning the gesture. Looking at her children she continued, “That one over there clutching Miss Molly is my daughter Danielle and the one holding the golf club is my son, Jason.” The kids nodded but said nothing.
The Major took a step toward Jason and hunched down to get nearly eye level with him.
“What’s the golf club for?” he asked.
“For protection,” Jason answered. “I have to make sure my mom and sister are safe because my dad isn’t around now to do it.”
“Oh,” Bradley said looking at Kim. She didn’t need to say anything; he read the whole story in her expression. Returning his attention to Jason he added, “Well Jason, looks like you’ve done a great job so far.” The Major stood back up but never took his eyes off Jason. “Do you think it would be ok if I helped you look out for your mom and Danielle?”
Jason looked at his mom and then the Major and then his mom again. Thinking for a second he finally said, “I guess that would be ok.”
The Major clapped Jason on his shoulder and said, “Sounds like a plan, son.”
Moving closer to Kim and turning his back slightly so the children would not easily overhear him he said, “Ms. Walker, I don’t believe those helicopters that you must have seen leaving are going to be coming back. I don’t know what plans, if any, you may have but I’m going to have my communications specialist try to contact a Colonial Jepson and see if we can’t get one more chopper here to pick you up. But, to be honest, I think that it’s a long shot. We’re going to camp here for the night and if no helicopters arrive by first light, we’re going to move out. You and your children are welcome to travel under our protection.”
“Thank you Major, that’s very kind of you,” Kim said. “But is it safe to stay here?”
“The buildings behind you should afford us a certain degree of safety and we are in an open field, we should be able to spot any trouble easily enough,” Major Bradley said.
“Then I accept your offer,” she said.
“Then I suggest you grab any personal belongings that you think you’ll need out of the car and hop in that second cargo truck.”
“Where?” she asked.
He smiled and said, “The one in front of the fuel truck.”
“Oh, ok,” she replied and grabbed her kids by the hand and started off toward the Honda.
The Major noticed this and said, “Aren’t you going to grab anything out of your car?”
She stopped, hesitated for a second, and then let out an actual giggle. “This,” pointing to the Toyota, “is actually my dad’s car. I was thinking of taking it because my car,” she said pointing to the Honda about one hundred yard away, “is out of gas.”
“I see. Hold on one minute for me will you?” said the Major.
“Stevens!” the Major shouted.
Jogging over was Private Stevens, “Sir?”
“Please escort Ms. Walker and her children to their car and help them retrieve their belongings.”
“Yes sir,” Stevens replied, turning his attention to Kim he said, “after you, ma’am.”
As they walked over to the Honda Kim was doing a mental inventory of what they had packed.
Noticing that, Stevens offered, “I would suggest bringing only what is necessary. We may have to move quickly.”
She nodded as they got to the car. She opened the back door and grabbed the radio. Nothing else in the car seemed important enough. She moved around to the trunk and opened it up. Staring inside she saw the cooler, two blankets, three suitcases and some camping equipment including the Coleman flashlights.
Stevens could not help himself and peered inside. “We definitely could use those flashlights if you’d consider donating them to the cause.”
“Of course,” she said and pulled them out of the trunk handing them to the private.
She decided to take all of the kids’ and her luggage and go through it later, deciding then what to keep and what to leave behind. She would bring the blankets to have something to sleep on but leave the camping equipment behind. After removing the kids’ bags, she reached in to grab her luggage but hesitated. She noticed a small black hard plastic case behind where Jason’s bag was. She lifted her luggage and dropped it on the ground then reached deep into the trunk and removed the case.
Placing it on the edge of the cars bumper she stared at it.
“What’s that Mommy?” Danielle asked.
“I don’t know,” was Kim’s only response.
Private Stevens looked at the black case and said, “Looks like a gun case ma’am.”
“A gun case?” she repeated, “but we don’t own a gun.”
“Looks like you do now,” Stevens replied.
“How do you open it?” she asked Private Stevens.
“Usually with a key or a combo lock,” he answered. Studying the case he said,
“Look, right there,” pointing to a four digit dial combination lock on the case’s handle. “You just need to move the numbers on the dial to whatever the four digit code is and it should open.”
“I don’t have any idea what the com ...” she stopped in mid-sentence and lifted the case upright to better view the combo lock. Slowly moving her fingers over the numbers she turned the first digit to a ‘2’; then, a little more quickly, finished the code with a ‘3’ and a’6’ and finally another ‘6’. Leveling the case she began lifting the top half. It easily separated from the bottom half revealing a shiny black handgun.
She was about to start cursing Marcus under her breath; buying a gun without consulting her, he knew how she felt about guns. She hated them, especially if the kids got ahold of it and it went off by accident. She shuddered just thinking about it. The question now, however, was what the hell she was going to do with it.
“What am I going to do with it?” she mumbled to herself letting her internal thoughts come out.
It was loud enough, however, for Private Stevens to hear.
“If you don’t mind me sayin’ ma’am, given our current situation, it’s probably the only thing in that car I would consider a necessity.”
Chapter 11
All Flights Cancelled
As the convoy rumbled onto the tarmac Major Bradley was pleased to see there were no signs of any infected. He shook his head as this confirmed his suspicions that Colonel Jepson had been wrong about this extraction zone being unsafe. Not that the surrounding area was devoid of infected, but at least the airport did not look overrun. Surveying the airport’s buildings he knew exactly where they would be spending the night. The airfield’s control tower rose above the other buildings giving a commanding view of the surrounding area.
Major Bradley activated his comm link and said, “Alright gentlemen we’ll be lodging in the control tower tonight. Get the deuce and a halves and fuel truck right up next to the front door. The Humvees will form a half circle security ring in front of them. Then we’ll clear the building. Make sure you stay alert.”
The Zombie Principle Page 10