“Would have been twelve this year,” Kim answered.
“A June bride, huh,” Lucy said.
“It was actually the only thing I insisted on. My mom was married in June, as was my grandmother. At the time, it seemed very important to me …” Kim said, her voice trailing off.
They were all startled by the big explosion. It sounded like it came from the parking lot. Lucy looked up one more time but could see nothing. She moved out from behind the counter and headed toward the door.
“Be careful,” Kim warned.
Lucy nodded and continued on to the door. She looked out and saw red and yellow flames shooting up in the sky from the road just outside the base. She could not see exactly what was on fire. She hoped Nick was okay but deep inside she knew he was somehow involved.
She started to move back to the counter when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Someone was moving around the corner of the building making its way to front doors. Lucy could tell it was an infected person.
She did not want to risk being seen heading back to the others. She quickly moved behind the Coke machine, making herself as thin as possible. Kim popped her head up from behind the counter and saw the panic in Lucy’s eyes.
Lucy put her index finger to her lips with one hand and motioned her to get down with the other. The zombie moved slowly, dragging one of its feet behind the other. She hoped it would just move past the entrance and keep going.
Unfortunately, it stopped in front of the doors. It began to jerk its head back and forth and stare through the glass. It staggered forward only to be stopped by the door. More specifically, the broom handle in the door.
Lucy looked around for anything she might be able to use as a weapon. She saw nothing useful within her immediate grasp. She really wished she had Jason’s golf club. The zombie was getting agitated, if that was possible. It kept hurling itself at the door. The broom handle held each time.
She knew, however, it was only a matter of time, especially if any of its friends showed up. She also realized that hiding behind the Coke machine was not doing any good because it obviously sensed they were inside. She decided to head back behind the counter and get Jason’s club. They were not going to have time to use the back door. Who knew what would be waiting for them on the other side anyway?
She left the concealment of the Coke machine and made it to the counter just as the sound of the broom handle cracking echoed throughout the visitor’s center.
Major Bradley and his men followed South Carolina Avenue past the army training center. Up ahead, to the right, he could see the convoy and was greatly relieved to discover it was not the source of the explosion. Turning right he cut across the northwest corner of the open field now covered with dead zombies.
He stopped and briefly surveyed the situation he saw before him. The rest of his men appeared to have fallen back and were using the convoy as cover. There had to be over two hundred zombies scattered across an otherwise beautiful grass field. Most were still but several were moving; crawling around on the ground. A few stragglers were approaching the trucks.
He pressed his comm link.
“Captain Morris, your location?” he said.
Stephen met Nick and Chester about halfway between the convoy and Route 41. Nick was out of breath and had slouched over putting his hands on his knees. Chester stood there with his backpack on his shoulder and his shotgun in his right hand.
“What the hell happened to you?” Nick asked, staring at the zombie blood covering most of Stephen’s clothing.
“Infected don’t kill themselves,” Stephen said.
Turning to Chester he said, “Mr. Boone.”
Chester nodded but seemed preoccupied.
“Captain said the Major is on his way back, we may be getting outta here soon,” Stephen said.
Upon hearing that news Chester mumbled he had something to take care of and he would meet them back at the convoy then took off.
“Doesn’t like to stick around much that one,” Nick said.
“Where is Lucy?” Stephen asked.
“The convoy wasn’t safe so I sequestered them in the visitor’s center over there,” Nick answered, pointing.
“Kim and the kids?”
“Also there.”
“I’m pretty sure I saw infected coming out of there earlier,” Stephen said. “It looked like they were headed toward the convoy.”
“That must be where they came from,” Nick muttered to himself.
“What?”
“Dave,” Nick said, “he didn’t make it. I found him … he was one of those things … I had no choice.”
Stephen took a second to absorb what Nick was telling him. He should have been shocked and paralyzed with grief but after what he and the rest of them had been through this last week, he moved quickly to acceptance. It was a byproduct of the new world they found themselves in.
“The girls,” he said and took off for the visitor’s center.
Lucy grabbed the golf club from Jason.
“I’ll give it back,” she said.
She stood back up just as the broom handle gave way and the zombie nearly fell forward as it charged into the room. She cocked the club behind her ear and waited for it to come close enough to whack it on the side of the head.
It regained its balance, sort of, and started moving forward again. It quickly spotted Lucy standing behind the counter. She stayed there to provide herself some protection.
When the zombie arrived at the counter it reached over, attempting to grab Lucy. With all her might she whipped the club around and landed a serious blow to the side of its head. It staggered back but came forward a second later. A second and a third blow to the head landed the zombie on the ground.
Lucy came around the counter and told Kim to grab her children. They were about to turn the corner and run out the door when Stephen and Nick came bursting into the room.
“Come here!” Stephen yelled to Kim.
She corralled her kids and ushered them forward, meeting Stephen at the door.
Nick saw the sprawled out zombie on the floor trying to get back up. Lucy stood there hovering over it, holding Jason’s club ready to take another whack.
Nick grabbed the Glock out of his waistband and without hesitation blew the zombie’s head clean off. Lucy had mashed it pretty good, Nick just finished the job.
“Let’s go,” Nick said.
They ran out of the visitor’s center meeting up with Stephen and Kim in the parking lot. Looking around Nick saw no other zombie’s. They stopped for a second to regroup.
“The Major should be back by now, we need to get back to the convoy,” Stephen said.
They all nodded and started off in that direction. Lucy wiped the golf club clean on a nearby patch of grass and handed the club back to Jason.
“There you go, as promised,” she said trying to muster a smile.
The Major had found Captain Morris next to the cargo truck. The rest of the zombies had been neutralized. There was no more immediate threat and the Captain had ordered Privates Benson and Adams to move infected blocking any of the vehicles.
“Captain, we are very low on ammo. Have the men quickly search the zombies for any military personnel. Remove any weapons or ammo they find and bring it to the cargo truck. I noticed some of them are still moving, so make sure they’re dead before you search ‘em,” the Major said.
“Yes sir.”
Fifteen minutes later they had rounded up twelve handguns and a few extra rounds of ammo but overall it was a disappointing haul. Stephen, Nick, Lucy, and Kim had crawled back into the cargo truck. It seemed a little larger without Dave. Everyone was quiet as Sergeant Sanchez hopped into the back with them.
Major Bradley and Captain Morris stood in front of the Major’s Humvee. Some more infected had started wondering into the area drawn by the gunfire or the explosion or both. It was time to head out.
“All personnel accounted for Major, we’re ready to mo
ve out,” Morris said.
Major Bradley took a deep breath and exhaled. He would tell Captain Morris about his conversation with the doctor later. Right now he needed to get his men away from here.
“Where to next?” Captain Morris asked.
“Where to next indeed, Captain.”
As the Cargo truck lurched forward everyone was sitting quietly, immersed in their own thoughts. They were startled when Chester jumped into the moving vehicle and was almost shot by Sergeant Sanchez.
The ambulance weaved between zombies as it traveled down Indiana Avenue. Gunner had no interest in hitting any of them as it would only slow him down. He was using both lanes and traveling much faster than he probably should be.
As he neared the end of the road he grabbed his walkie and pushed the button.
“Come in Captain, over.”
“Bannon, over.”
“We’re three minutes out. Will be arriving in an ambulance. Is the coast clear? Over,” Gunner asked.
“Area is free of infected, plane is ready for takeoff, over.”
“Copy, over and out.”
Number 5 had been staring at the Doctor since leaving the hospital but had not moved or tried to get up. Not that he would have been able to anyway, he was handcuffed and strapped down tight to the gurney. It seemed to Dr. Sanderson that Number 5 knew that it was useless to struggle; but that was not possible, was it?
Gunner pulled the ambulance alongside the Gulfstream with a screeching halt. He and Mikael hopped out of the cab and met at the back door. Opening the latch, they helped the Doctor out of the back and grabbed the gurney.
Gunner had been thinking of how they would transport the prisoner once they got to the plane. About halfway there, it came to him. They extended the legs and rolled him to the cargo hold. Opening it up, they lifted Number 5, gurney and all, and slid it into the hold. A perfect fit.
Captain Bannon watched from the top of the stairs. The first thing he noticed after the zombie was loaded into the cargo hold, was that they were two people short.
“This business has gotten very dangerous,” he thought to himself.
Dr. Sanderson walked up the stairs and passed the Captain offering only a nod. He slipped off his knapsack and settled into his seat, buckling up as usual. A minute later Gunner came up the stairs followed by the only remaining member of his team. He spoke quietly to Captain Bannon for a few seconds and then headed to the rear of the cabin.
The Doctor leaned his head back and stared at the cabin ceiling. He figured Gunner would think of this as the end of a long, dangerous mission. To the Doctor, however, it was actually just the beginning.
23 Days
Later
Chapter 36
A Safe Place
Nick set his meal tray down on the table with a thud and then pulled his chair out, landing heavily into it next to Stephen. The others at the table looked up from their conversations. Stephen and Lucy sat on one side of the table while Kim and her kids were seated on the other.
“Seconds, Nick? You know they have a strict food rationing rule here. You are gonna get in trouble if you keep doing this,” said Stephen shaking his head.
“What? I can’t help it that the blonde behind the serving line has a thing for me,” replied Nick with a mischievous grin.
“Well a little self-control wouldn’t hurt,” said Stephen.
“Self-control? Self-control is for the weak,” replied Nick with a smirk as he shoved a fork full of mashed potatoes into his mouth.
“Eating is all you’ve done since we got here,” Kim chimed in. “You would think with everything going on you would lose some of that appetite.”
It had taken five days to reach Fort Carson, Colorado from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Fort Carson lay just south of Colorado Springs and in the shadow of Cheyenne Mountain; home of the famed NORAD Headquarters. Major Bradley knew that the East Coast had been completely evacuated. The military, and what was left of the United States government, was displaced to the area surrounding NORAD which contains Fort Carson as well as Peterson Air Force Base. For years NORAD had been running its operations from Peterson AFB with the Cheyenne Mountain Complex on standby in case of emergency. The Major hoped that the area had been secured and made safe from the hell that was unfolding in the rest of the country.
The trip from Fort Campbell would normally only have taken about 18 hours. However, these were anything but normal times. Several detours, namely around St. Louis and Kansas City, had added to their time. The convoy had also come across several civilian survivors traveling west. Those who were willing added their cars to the convoy and followed the Major to Fort Carson. The insistence of the Major to refill the tanker truck whenever possible slowed them down considerably but did ensure that plenty of fuel was on hand. Several nights were spent scavenging for food before holing up in abandoned houses. Finally, as the group’s nerves were beginning to fray, they reached the outskirts of Colorado Springs only to find the once thriving town in almost complete ruin.
From the looks of it the Major believed the majority of the city had been wiped out by airstrikes and seemed at a loss about what to do next. It was then Specialist Simmons reported he had contacted someone on the radio. Shortly thereafter the convoy was welcomed in to a highly secured Fort Carson, the new home of the government and military of the United States of America.
The following few days were a blur as the group acclimated themselves to the Fort Carson community and settled into their quarters. It was hard to get an accurate count but everyone agreed there were nearly 1,000 civilian refugees alongside a large cadre of military personal. With more arriving every day. They all had many questions that went unanswered save for what the Major and Captain Morris shared. It had been a little more than three weeks since the civilians and soldiers met but the harrowing ordeals they shared had helped develop a strong bond.
Major Bradley and Captain Morris would stop by the house being shared by the civilians in the evenings whenever their duties allowed, checking in on the group. From these meetings they all learned that this infection had spread rapidly throughout the Eastern United States in the first few days following the outbreak. By now the infection had spread through most of the United States decimating all the major cities and towns. There were even reports of outbreaks in Europe and South America.
Major Bradley also informed everyone that what was left of the United States government was assembled at the base, trying to establish some semblance of structure. The president and most of his cabinet had arrived safely but the vice-president had not been heard from in weeks. Almost half the members of Congress had made it to the Fort, including Nick’s father, when Washington was evacuated. The cold hard fact, however, was that the military was running the show at Fort Carson, with strict martial law in place in order to keep those survivors gathered safe.
After the convoy arrived they were processed by the military personnel there. This consisted of a full medical exam to ensure no one was bitten or carrying any other infectious diseases. The military members of the convoy were then assigned barracks and duty stations while the civilians completed an ad hoc orientation session about their new lives at Fort Carson. In this session they learned the rules for living on the base which included the rationing of water, food, and electricity. Following the orientation they were given the option of a random housing assignment that would split them up or being assigned a house on base for all of them to share. They choose the latter and were quickly assigned a small two bedroom house. Lucy, Kim and her kids took the master bedroom while Nick and Stephen took the smaller one. Chester took the couch in the living room, but complaining of being cooped up behind the Fort’s fences, was rarely there at night.
The morning following their arrival, after a short breakfast in a large dining hall, the group was met by Major Bradley and Captain Morris and led into a classroom were several military logistics officers had set up their office. Each member of the group was logged in to a roll book b
y name, social security number, and a physical description. Then each person was asked a list of questions to help find out where their talents and skills could be best used at Fort Carson.
Kim was assigned to the medical staff due to her experience as a dental hygienist. Jason and Danielle were both assigned to the small school that had been started on base for the refugees’ kids. Nick was assigned as history teacher at the school for the morning session and in the afternoon was assigned to the work detail, which was currently working feverishly to reinforce the fence around the base. Stephen, on the recommendation of the Major and Captain, was assigned to military training for those civilians with real world experience in dealing with zombies. Stephen was also assigned to the work detail when he was not in training. Chester was assigned to the same unit as Stephen as well as being assigned to the hunting detail. Lucy’s schooling as a business major made her a good fit for the civilian staff of the military’s logistics unit. Everyone, including the soldiers, were assigned kitchen duty at least once a week. They were also responsible for washing their own clothes and the up keep of the house they were staying in.
They were then each given a ticket and told after the meeting to proceed to the commissary to pick up two sets of clothes for themselves. Afterwards they were afforded the rest of the day and the following day to settle in but were instructed to report to breakfast at 0700 hours each day and be at their assigned duty stations on the third day at 0800. There was some grumbling about being put to work but after the second day at their assigned jobs each of the group was happy for some sense of structure and normalcy.
Ignoring the other’s remark Nick turned to Jason and Danielle and asked, “Did you guys finish your homework last night?”
“Yeah, I finished it before it got dark so I could play outside,” said Jason.
“I had to wait for mommy to help me so I had to do mine with the candles on,” said Danielle sheepishly.
The Zombie Principle Page 31