Speaking of grenades, those were put to use, almost wastefully, as our inflatable boats surged forward. Anyone in their way was targeted, and quite a few went sailing through windows and open doors. This created no shortage of carnage and confusion, allowing the squads to get ashore on opposite sides of the island with minimal resistance. They quickly formed firing lines and began to advance.
“No reports of casualties,” said Mary. “The squad leaders and Renee have open mics, but all they’ve done so far is give normal orders.”
I nodded. It would be nice to make it through at least one fight without somebody getting killed.
Tara and Dale kept up a steady rate of fire, but I soon stopped. Standing, I moved to the side where I could get a better view of what was happening. Most of our people on the island had yanked off their night vision goggles. The light from the fires was likely causing problems. They were also shooting anyone who rushed them, was armed, or appeared in any way to be dangerous. However, the remaining structures were mostly ignored. We lacked the numbers to search buildings in the middle of a fight, and most of the defenders were coming straight at us. By lingering around the landing zones, we gave them little choice. They could charge, hang back and suffer the wrath of our snipers or helicopters, or hide and let us take control.
And prisoners were being taken. A few had raised their hands. These were put in the back where a pair of militia members stood watch. Rather, Renee’s band was doing so. My view of squad one was obstructed. The numbers were more than I expected, especially this early in the battle.
“Got a guy down in squad three,” said Mary.
“What’s happening?”
“Looks like one of the people who gave up pulled a knife and stabbed someone. I’m not sure who, but it seems to be a flesh wound. Got it in the stomach though, and that hurts.”
“We’ll evacuate him as soon as there’s a chance. Tell one of the choppers, whichever is lower on ammo, to pull back and rearm. The other is to stay in the air until they can switch out.”
Mary sent the message. This was planned for, and Marcus would have the belts of ammunition and spare rockets ready and waiting.
“This is much better than fighting in the trees,” commented Mary.
“Better right now, but that’ll change if we have to go into the houses.”
“Maybe they will all give up.”
“We can hope. I want to loot the entire town, taking whatever they have. That’ll be easier if we aren’t blowing it to smithereens.”
“Renee’s got a bunch sitting in a row on the ground already. Some kids too. That’s good.”
“Hard to tell,” I replied, “but that’s ten, twelve?”
One of these suddenly slid a gun from beneath his shirt and fired a round into Renee’s chest. She staggered, but her body armor apparently stopped the bullet. But while she looked to be okay, the woman was anything but happy. The two guards weren’t any better. One promptly killed the would be assassin.
I hit the switch so the squad leaders and Renee could hear my orders directly. “That’s the second time someone surrendered in order to get close enough to attack. No adults are to be taken prisoner. Kill all of them.”
“Order received and confirmed,” said Renee. Her voice was harsh and ragged. “No adult prisoners.”
She personally turned her M-16 on the captives. A few threw themselves to the side, trying to get away, or cried out for mercy. Others stood like deer blinded by headlights. It made no difference.
“Squad one just confirmed they are complying.”
I’d caught the acknowledgement in my own earpiece. The squad leader sounded unhappy but not enough to disobey orders.
Disabling my microphone once more, so no one would hear my conversations with Mary, I scanned the horizon. There were zombies on the shoreline watching us, drawn by the noise we were making. A few even attempted to advance by walking into the water. They could cross along the bottom, being unnaturally dense, but would lose sight of the conflict as they did so. Unable to track their prey, many stumbled back the way they’d come. Others were probably lost down there.
“Mary, let everyone know we have shamblers in the water. I don’t know how many. Most are staying on the shore, but a few may show up on the islands.”
That was quickly relayed. The main settlement had walls to protect the inhabitants, but we had blown quite a few holes in them. The small island with the goats and chicken coops had one as well. Ours did not. I ordered Tara and Dale to move up to the roof of the little building. That would keep them out of danger while they were shooting. Mary and I would have to look out for ourselves.
* * *
“How many dead?” I asked.
“For us, zero,” confirmed Renee.
Hurray!
“We have four wounded, one serious, but he should recover. Ronnie went to get the news chopper. He’ll take them home and come back for the Cobra after.”
“What about them?” asked Mary. She was staring at the bodies lying strewn about the streets and gutters.
“I don’t have an exact count yet,” admitted Renee. “Once it started to die down, we assumed defensive positions until the sun rose. Then I used the loudspeaker we brought to order everyone to approach, stripped naked to ensure they were carrying no weapons. If you were not naked, you would be shot on sight. Those have all been moved to the other island with squad three keeping an eye on them.”
It was a shameful way to treat prisoners, even crazy ones, but their feelings were nothing compared to our safety.
“Get Marcus over so we can find out if any were involved. Ask them to identify all Brotherhood members first.”
“Think they’ll talk, Dad?”
I shrugged. “Who knows. They may. Don’t kill these people yet, just separate them. There’s no rush to shoot them and no reason to get the prisoners even more riled up.”
Identification proved to be rather simple. While everyone in the community followed this fucked up religion, officially, it turned out there were several who didn’t particularly care for the bastards or their desire to feed strangers to the zombies. These individuals were quick to point fingers. As likely as not, this opportunity was also used to settle personal scores, but with so few naming names, I had no way to differentiate.
The looting, unfortunately, did not go as smoothly. You just knew there would be those who refused to surrender no matter what. Maybe they feared we would shoot them as we did their friends the prior night, or perhaps they were too damn stubborn to admit it was over. We suffered two more wounded after entering buildings. I will take this opportunity to thank the powers that be for the existence of body armor. Many attacks that would otherwise result in death or maiming were lessened or prevented altogether because of the equipment.
“Enough of this shit. Pull everyone off the big island. We can base on the little one until we clear the shoreline of zombies. Then we start moving prisoners, the ones we are taking to Montana. Load them in the trucks and lock them in.” I looked at Renee. “I’ll go last, and I’ll kill those that Marcus and the townsfolk identified as Brotherhood or collaborators.”
“You’re the consul,” she argued. “You shouldn’t be doing that sort of thing.”
“I’m exactly the one who should be doing it,” I countered. “And I can’t have you or the others do all the nasty work. Isn’t right.”
The twins looked at each other.
“We’ll help kill them,” said Dale.
Tara nodded.
“Fair enough.” As if I could really argue with the pair. “We three will finish up. Once we are off and Ronnie’s back, we can load the news chopper with napalm bombs and drop them on the island. Use all of them.”
“We have eight,” she pointed out. “That is more than enough.”
“No one is going to survive that.”
“Mary, that’s the plan. Total destruction. We burn it to the ground and everyone still hiding.”
“But what if t
here are kids we missed?” Her eyes began to tear up. “There could be some hiding inside the houses, or maybe their parents are hiding them.”
I shook my head. “They had their chance, and no one else is getting hurt on account of these people. God, I hate this shit.”
* * *
“That is not quite as many as I expected,” said Captain Briggs. “Was the battle that difficult?”
He’d been watching in real time, so the captain knew much of what occurred. He was obviously being polite.
“It could have gone better,” I replied.
There was a man wearing a business suit beside Briggs. Everyone else was some distance away removing prisoners from the rear of the tractor trailer and walking them to a small pavilion that had been set up in the grass. On the runway was a large transport. At the far end were crates and boxes, which I assumed held our supplies.
“We had to kill a bunch,” commented Mary. She was quieter than normal.
“It went well at first,” I elaborated. “We targeted those building we knew The Brotherhood used, taking them out from the start, and began accepting surrenders from everyone else. Unfortunately, some of those weren’t really giving up. They pretended so they could get in close, and when they did, they tried shooting us in the back. As outnumbered as we were, I had to say no prisoners would be taken, aside from children of course.”
“That’s horrible!” exclaimed the man.
I instantly disliked him.
“This is Senator Doug Fletchle from Hawaii. He came so he could see what was happening on the mainland for himself. He will be returning with the aircraft when it leaves in a few hours.” The captain turned to the politician. “When an enemy fakes surrender in order to kill your troops, a commander is obligated to take whatever steps are necessary to safeguard the lives of the men and women under him. Jacob was correct in refusing surrender during the battle.”
I caught onto “during the battle” and quickly continued. “Once it settled down we announced that any wishing to surrender could now do so, provided they stripped and approached slowly. That way we knew they had no weapons or explosives strapped to them.”
“You made them get naked?” asked the senator. He seemed to be having difficulty with this concept as well.
“We gave them back their clothes after they were in the truck,” added Mary, “so stop looking all whiny. What, you rather us let them try to kill everybody a second time?”
“That is one method for taking prisoners under difficult circumstances,” confirmed Briggs. “Remember, they had a relatively small attack force and were operating far from home. The fact they recovered so many of the children and pregnant women…” That some of the captives were expecting was obvious. “…is a tremendous accomplishment.”
The praise was nice, even if I could have kept more of them alive by not ordering the summary executions and torching the entire town. I wasn’t about to contradict him in front of the senator however.
“Well,” admitted the politician, taking off his glasses and cleaning the lenses with a white handkerchief, “the children were always the priority. They are innocent of their parents’ crimes and cannot be held accountable.”
While this was true, I was nevertheless glad they were all going to Hawaii. The brats were going to be angry and hateful, after their current shock and sorrow wore off, and payback would be on their minds. Best to have them where this was simply not possible. I also suspected that, as with the raiders, the powers that be did not really want to deal with The Brotherhood. Their own limited resources could be better spent elsewhere.
“Yes, I will definitely spread the word that despite a dire situation, being outnumbered and outgunned, our brothers and sisters in South Dakota managed to put a halt to the predations of a brainwashed group of cultists, saving the children from the horrors their elders would have foisted upon them.”
Oh. My. God. This man was wordier than me. Could it be he actually understood what he was spouting, or was Doug Fletchle the sort who enjoyed spitting out buzz words whenever possible?
“I will report the good news, gentlemen and lady.”
We watched him stroll toward the waiting transport. The captives had all been removed from our truck, and Marcus and Renee had begun loading the supplies. We would be leaving as soon as that was completed.
“The guy is nuts,” said Mary.
“He has…” Captain Briggs laughed softly. “Most of the career politicians died in the first few days like everyone else. A few, such as the prior president, were taken to places of safety, military bases usually. Many of those were later overrun. Those in office now almost all lack any sort of prior service, having been private citizens their entire lives. We have a sizable number, with Senator Fletchle fitting in nicely, who try very, very hard to act the role. The man can and will spin anything to his advantage. I’m not sure if he realizes that he’s doing it.”
“Any chance he will blame me for the deaths?”
“No,” replied the captain. “For all his faults, the senator is a good man and ultra-supportive of the military and its personnel. All he needs to hear is that it was necessary, and he will back you completely. I don’t anticipate any problems. But, was burning the entire island to the ground actually necessary?”
“There were those who refused to surrender and were hiding in buildings,” I answered.
“They shot two of our guys, but they’ll be okay,” added Mary, helpfully.
The officer grimaced. “City fighting is among the worst. As far as the senator is concerned, you removed the children and ended the threat. I’ll let him know that burning it was to deprive any future groups of its use as a base from which to launch assaults on peace loving survivors. I have no doubt he will find a way to make that sound as favorable as possible.”
“Are military and military families a big part of his constituency?” I asked.
“He has one brother, a daughter, and three in-laws wearing the uniform. Fletchle backed them from the start, and he’s loved for it.”
Maybe I should not have been so quick to judge the man. The senator might be every bit as nuts as Mary said, but he appeared to have some good traits after all.
* * *
A few more items before I round out this chapter. Captain Briggs informed me that he would become Major Briggs as soon as the final paperwork arrived. I was happy for him. The man deserved the promotion. He was competent. He was capable. He was easy to work with. Briggs was an all around good officer.
It was also decided that Yellowstone would be the launching point for the efforts to reclaim the American heartland from the zombie menace. There was plenty of room, and they had easy access to the mountains west of the park and the plains east. The Black Hills, being more populated and with far less available space was to remain a fallback position. That suited me just fine. I was curious to see how this would unfold, and staying safe and uninvolved, at least at first, was to our benefit.
Of course, the entire cleansing of America was dependent on what was happening overseas. It was believed Ireland would soon be secure enough that the British and Swiss would need no further assistance. The other nations were settling down, and no problems were expected from them either. The wild card was the Caliphate. They were rapidly arming, which wasn’t particularly difficult since weapons and military hardware were lying around just waiting to be taken, and intelligence believed they were preparing to march. The question was to where.
Interlude – Lizzy’s Story
Lizzy hated being kept away from excitement, adventure, danger, or pretty much anything out of the ordinary. As such, her mood was so dour that Briana banished her from the citadel, accompanied by an order to go do some real work. This did not go over well, Briana comparing Lizzy’s behavior to Asher’s even less so. My friend did as she was told though, getting in a truck and doing a circuit along the outer perimeter of the Black Hills. Only, there wasn’t a whole lot to see. The walls were all intact. The ditches were
still there. The piles of fallen trees and other natural looking obstructions remained in place. Just as disgusted as before, Lizzy eventually made her way back inside, heading for the nearest watch post.
“Are you on duty again?”
Melody shrugged. “I’m here most of the time.”
“Whatever the fuck for? Is Renee making you? You being punished?”
“Not at all. I volunteered.”
Her emplacement, which overlooked our southern border, was among the best. Melody was positioned high on a steep slope hidden by thick foliage. This allowed her to see virtually everything.
“It’s no fucking good for you to not talk to people. You need some interaction, and I don’t give a shit if you want it or not. It’s not healthy.”
Melody blanched.
“And drop the martyred look. I’m not torturing you.” Lizzy took a seat atop a large rock. It happened to be one Melody often used herself. “But that can wait until after I finish the official crap. So, is there anything you need to help with your job?”
“A shack would be nice, or a lean-to.”
“A shack? Whatever the fuck for?”
The woman gestured at a dark green tarp strung between four trees. If it rains, I can sit under there and stay somewhat dry, unless it’s really windy in which case it doesn’t matter. That’s bad enough, but I can’t see very much if I’m stuck there. What I need is something over here instead, something solid.”
She moved a few yards to the left.
“See what I mean? The trees give cover, so no one would spot me from below, but I can still keep an eye on everything. Something long and narrow would be best, with the door in the rear and some windows up front. I could even get vines growing over the thing so it looks completely natural.”
Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 3): Salvation Page 26