by Jay Morris
“What on Earth was that?”
Corporal Jones said “I expect that the heat caused the structural steel in there to give way, I think it just collapsed.”
We all watched for another minute when Mrs. Driscol turned around and with tears in her eyes said
“I’ll get the map, we have to find a way to go around.”
I watched them go over the map, Corporal Jones was a tall, thin, and bald headed black man whose dark eyes seemed to burn into whatever was the focus of his attention. He was a no-nonsense soldier and approached things from that perspective. Blue was different, he was younger, had short, dirty blond hair. His blue eyes seemed gentle but he was always finding his way to stand next to Elaine and I found that irritating even though Elaine didn’t even seem to notice. PFC James, well, he looked healthy, he was over six feet tall and had huge arms but he would look right through you, as if you weren’t even there, like he was trying to see something far, far away. He muttered to himself but it was so quiet and he mumbled so badly it was impossible to understand. Blue finally came and gave him a shot of something and within minutes he was asleep.
Billy was walking the perimeter, he had insisted and in fact I realized that he had done the same thing back at the barricade. I didn’t know why he was doing it but as long as he didn’t start eating dirt or speaking gibberish I was cool with it. I walked back to our SUV, the doors were open on both sides and Lucy was inside talking to Old Man Tucker. I looked inside and saw that her patient was fast asleep and so her conversation remained pretty much one sided. I stood and listened for a bit, it seems that Lucy was reassuring Old Man Tucker that Ronald Bear and her were just friends. She said
“We love each other but only plastically” she explained.
She had set up three paper cups on the old man’s chest and they were apparently in the middle of a tea party.
“Now Mr. Tucker you should try and keep your strength up and drink this lovely camouflage tea, it’s good for your digression.”
She raised his cup and pretended to give him a drink even making the ‘glug glug’ sounds for him. Not long after that Mom and Elaine returned and I heard Mrs. Driscol call Billy over to her;
“Hours, this is going to take hours” Mom complained to our family group.
Elaine did not answer instead she just climbed into the back opposite Lucy so I walked around to the passenger side and climbed in next to Mom. We were just turning around when the Humvee stopped and Blue got out. He ran back to the Driscols SUV and then back to ours. I rolled the window down and he handed me a radio;
“Here ya go buddy, we can all keep in touch this way.”
He proceeded to show me how to press this thing on the side to talk, he said that Billy had one too and that all three were set to the same frequency. They had a bigger one in the Humvee and every once in a while would search through all the channels for any other units. I was thrilled and Billy and I started chatting right away. Neither Cpl. Jones nor Blue complained but I think we were getting on Mom’s nerves because she asked us to save it for a while.
I actually think she got tired of our “rogers” and “overs”. We did have time to come up with nifty nicknames, our SUV was “rock-3”, the Driscols’ was “sky-2” and the Humvee was “desert-1”. I was pretty proud of those and I loved every time we got to use them.
“rock-3 to sky-2, rock-3 to sky-2, over.”
“sky-2 to rock-3, sit-rep? over.”
“rock-3 to sky-2, 6 by 6, got any m&ms? over”
“sky-2 to rock-3, rodger that rock-3, will resupply you next opportunity. Over.”
“rock-3 to sky-2 thanks and rodger that. Out.”
Can two twelve olds have more important military conversations than that?
We traveled in a zig-zagging course using the less traveled roads and avoiding major highways, I was trying to keep our position on the map but I got confused and gave it up. As the sun was starting to get lower in the sky the convoy slowed and then came to a complete stop. Mom told us to stay where we were and she got out talking to Mrs. Driscol they headed toward the soldiers. As I sat and watched I saw that Cpl. Jones had a pair of binoculars held to his eyes. I couldn’t see what they were looking at, they were at the crest of the hill we were on but whatever it was it certainly seemed interesting and Cpl. Jones passed the binoculars to Mom and Mrs. Driscol. Mom turned and started walking back towards us; I saw Mrs. Driscol get into her car, their expressions made my insides start to cramp up like the time I ate too much watermelon. I muttered to myself “Oh goody.”
Cpl. Jones gathered all of us together except for Lucy and Old Man Tucker who was still out of it and Pvt. James who was moved into the same SUV as Lucy and Tucker.
“All right everyone, here is the situation.” he began. “About a 1000 yards down this road there are at least 50 Z-2s. They are swarming all over the outside of a gas station at the intersection. The doors look like they are boarded up and the security gate is down over the garage section. There has to be survivors in there or the Z’s would have moved on.”
He paused and let that sink in for a moment and then went on
“Now, we have to decide what, if anything we are going to do about it. Things are all changed now, I think we all have an equal say. So first things first, do we go around or do we intervene?”
He then went silent. After a minute or so Mom spoke first,
“I hate to say this but I am not sure we can do anything for them.” Blue agreed quickly enough and Mrs. Driscol said she would go along with the majority.
“Well then..” Cpl. Jones began but Elaine spoke up,
“If there are people down there then I am going to try and help them, the rest of you can do what you want.”
Mom couldn’t believe it, “Elaine, we are all going to stay together, and that is that, you are not going to do anything alone.”
It was then that Billy spoke, “Can I say something?”
When no one said otherwise in what Billy decided was a timely manner he went on.
“The way I see it we are at war with those things and if there are people down there who need help, if we can do anything at all we should.”
Elaine wrapped her arm around his shoulder and he blushed terribly. I figured it was my turn so I said (in the most eloquent manner possible as I pointed to Billy)
“What he said.”
Cpl. Jones looked at the ground and sighed deeply,
“Well that’s three to two with one abstain then.”
Mom said with a strange half smile
“Heavy wears the crown Cpl.”
He looked at her then over his shoulder down the road.
“It seems so Mrs. Williams.” He waited a moment more then said “I figure we should be able to come up with a plan, one that gives us a good shot at helping out but also a decent chance at getting out of dodge should things go to shit.”
He looked over at Elaine
“Would that meet your requirements Rambo?”
Elaine laughed quietly and said “I think that sounds fair.”
Mom spoke up “I guess we should go and come up with one Hell of a plan then.”
Billy and I took turns keeping an eye on the gas station with the binoculars while the plans were being figured out. Once Billy thought he saw movement in the garage but wasn’t sure. The plan was like this: Jones and Blue were going to work their way down through the trees along the side of the road and get as close as they could to the garage side of the building. They would wait until Mrs. Driscol drove the Humvee quick as a cat to the edge of the parking lot, turn the hummer ninety degrees to the road and then Billy, Elaine, and I would open up through the firing ports. We were to keep shooting, draw the Z’s to us, Jones would cover Blue while he was to try and get the survivors out. Blue was to lead them back through the trees to the SUVs with Jones picking up the rear. Once they were all loaded they would signal us on the radio and we were to
“Button up the hummer” he said. “Then we
all hit the road as fast as we can.”
That was when we gathered at the rear of the Humvee with our weapons to trade for some of the extras Cpl. Jones had stored in the back of it.
“Oh my God, where did you get this stuff?” he said when he saw the WWI French Berthier and the Moisan-Nagant battle rifles.
“They belong to Mr. Tucker” Elaine said.
Cpl. Jones had the same reaction to the 7-shot Russian Revolver.
“Do they even fire?” he asked. Mrs. Driscol surprised everyone when she said quoting Tucker
“Half a million dead at Verdun thought they did.”
She picked up one of the army M16-A2 rifles. We each got one as well as a Beretta M9 pistol. Blue just shook his head as he watched the battle hardened soccer moms and their children as they went over the new weapons. Figuring out how to load, clear and fire them. Elaine kept her revolver though as did Billy and I, our third, back-up weapons. Besides Old Man Tucker had given them to us, they were ours and I wasn’t going to just toss them into a box somewhere. There were lots of extra magazines for both the M16s and the M9s so we stuffed them into our pockets and school backpacks. Mom didn’t even flinch as her children readied for battle. It was the 7th day for us and we all had changed so much I was having trouble remembering what life was like and that was a feeling that would only grow as the days quickly ticked by.
So we began, Cpl. Jones and Blue slipped into the woods and slowly made their way towards the gas station. I kissed Mom and told Lucy to keep an eye on things for me and that we would be back soon. We got into the Humvee and waited, Mrs. Driscol clutching the radio till her knuckles grew white. Billy and Elaine were quietly talking about nothing and I did my best to not have an accident in my pants. Finally there was a soft click and Cpl. Jones whispered
“Rescue ready, Humvee, Go.”
Mrs. Driscol fired the engine and the 7 ton vehicle lurched forward, the V8 whining as she shifted gears.
“HOLD ON!!” She yelled.
She swung the vehicle wide and we slid into position. The Crazies had already taken notice and were starting our way.
“LIGHT THEM UP!”
Elaine yelled and she stuck the barrel of the M16 through her firing port and started shooting. Billy and I did the same.
That was just about the time everything went down the toilet. The crazies were fast, way faster than before. The spent brass from our rifles was raining down around us, the sunlight glinting from them but we couldn’t hear their metallic song, it was drowned out by the blasts from the three rifles, we hadn’t hit a single one and Elaine turned and yelled at us
“SWITCH TO 3 ROUND!”
Billy complied with a flick of his thumb but it took me a minute longer. We started getting hits then but even if we knocked them down they soon got back up and didn’t seem the worse for the wear. The Humvee shook from side to side as they impacted it, they screeched as they clawed at the firing ports and tried to get inside with us. The front wind shield cracked and Mrs. Driscol screamed. We couldn’t see what was happening at the garage and I kept muttering under my breath, “Come on. Come on.” as if urging the radio would speed it up.
Once the Zs left to attack the Humvee Blue crouched and ran across the parking lot. He called out to those inside in that half whisper half yell that people on the verge of panic always seemed to use. He heard voices then a scrambling inside, the sound of large crates or boxes being moved and suddenly the door to the ladies room slowly opened. Blue ran to it and saw that there was a second, interior access door to the bathroom, providing a pass through from the outside. Five people came tumbling out. Two women, two children and a teenaged boy swarmed around Blue and he pushed them towards the forest. Cpl. Jones had his rifle raised but was not shooting, he was keeping watch on the Zs as they swarmed over the Humvee. Only two Zs lay motionless on the ground, slowly spreading pools of blood spread on the black asphalt. Only two in spite of the ferocious rate of fire coming from the Humvee, he watched in dismay as several rounds seemed to glance off the flesh of the Zs and somewhere in the back of his mind he associated the strange color of the Zs skin with the shiny exoskeleton of an insect. Once he was sure that Blue was leading the survivors into the woods, away from the firefight, hopefully far enough away that the Zs wouldn’t be able to track them, at least not right away Cpl. Jones raised the radio to his mouth but he froze in terror.
A second, smaller bunch of Zs had appeared out of nowhere and were attacking the SUVs. He barked into the radio.
“DRISCOL! THE SUVs ARE UNDER ATTACK!!”
He lay back down and sighted as carefully as he could on the back of the head of one of the Zs nearest him. He squeezed and the Z crashed forward and bounced off the armor plated Humvee. “Thank God we can still kill them.” He thought. The Humvee began to move, turn and circle back towards the SUVs.
“Oh Hell” Jones muttered as he took two grenades from his jacket, pulled the pins and one after the other tossed them towards the swarm. The explosions through them in all directions and several were severely injured. Bits of flesh and several severed limbs lay scattered about a thin wisp of smoke coming from one of them, the long claw like fingers flinching open and closed as if it were trying to grasp at something. He prayed that no one inside the Humvee had taken any shrapnel from the grenades. As the Humvee sped back towards the SUVs with several Zs keeping pace.
Jones kept up his own rifle fire, rising to one knee he dropped the empty mag and had just shoved a new one into the well when he suddenly heard crashing sounds in the woods behind him. He spun around but it was too late. A Z2 crashed into him, it easily tore the rifle from his grasp and threw it into the street, with the other hand it wrapped long, dagger like fingers around Jones’ neck. His scream was choked off as his throat filled with his own blood. The last thing he saw was his own entrails being pulled from his abdomen and the widening jaws of the Z, rows of needlelike teeth heading for his face.
The SUV was literally spinning in place as the crazies tore at the doors and windows to get at the screamers inside. Several more violent impacts and the SUV slid off the side of the road, both passenger side tires slipped into a deep gully and with a sickening lurch it half rolled onto that side. Inside the SUV Lucy was pulling frantically on Old Man Tucker, screaming at him to wake up, to do something, to save them and at long last the tired and sick old man began to waken. In the back Jackson was leaning against the jammed side door, his hands covering his face, rapidly rocking in place. My Mom was scrambling for her pistol which had slipped to the floor and became wedged under the driver’s seat.
It was then that the rear window exploded and a forest of taloned fingers grabbed Jackson and pulled him screaming out of the vehicle. A spray of arterial blood was ejected onto what remained of the glass and inside onto the padded ceiling of the SUV. Mr. Tucker drunkenly called for his revolvers and Lucy immediately began to get them from the pack on the floor next to them. Suddenly one of the crazies began to crawl into the back of the SUV and Lucy screamed as she shoved the antique into Old Man Tucker’s hand but it was going to be too little too late if not for my mother.
My mom, who never hurt anyone, my mom who did Halloween costumes by hand and baked Christmas cookies from scratch and volunteered at church and put nickels in expired parking meters for people she she didn’t even know , my mom who loved her family more than anything in the world became my mother the hero. Seeing the crazy crawling into the back of the SUV she gave up on the Beretta lost somewhere under the front seat, she screamed at the top of her lungs, cursing and clambered up and out of the driver’s side door. The crazy changed direction and hopped back out of the SUV to meet my mother’s challenge. They charged at each other like wild beasts, each determined to own the field. They crashed together the monster striving to kill, to maim, to disembowel and my mother who wanted nothing more than to just hold on to her opponent and give the sick old man some more time and her little girl a chance to live another day.
Lucy screamed
as her mother’s blood flew in crimson fans that painted the sky, Old Man Tucker picked her up and set her behind him against the door, and climbed up and out of the SUV. Without a word he raised the revolver and fired twice then climbed the rest of the way out of the vehicle. I saw him kneel and he disappeared from view. When he rose again he pointed his gun at the ground and fired once more. He pointed in another direction and fired again, and again, and again. He paused knowing that he had only one bullet left but fate intervened as the Humvee came screeching to a halt next to him. Billy, Elaine and I joined Old Man Tucker and we set up a firing line between the SUV and the military vehicle.
The crazies now only had one way to reach us and we only had one direction to face. The Z’s were tough and fast but bullets are faster and our fury gave focus to our attack. Old Man Tucker stooped and reaching into the SUV he produced his bag and took out his second colt. Mrs. Driscol was firing from the driver’s side window and the gunfire was withering and the crazies began to fall, their injuries compounding one upon another until they just lay about them quivering and unable to function.
Blue and the survivors had circled wider than they had planned after they heard Cpl. Jones open fire and the subsequent grenade explosions. He settled the survivors down in a ravine a hundred yards from the road and got them to lay as quietly as possible. He crawled up and tried to see through the trees and watch what was going on but the forest was too thick. So instead he just kept his eyes open and listened for Cpl. Jones to join them. Instead he heard a tremendous amount of gun fire coming from where the SUVs were parked.
“This is not good, this is so not good” he whispered to himself.
Abruptly the gunfire ceased, the Zs were all dead or his people were, in either case he had to know, he really didn’t want to just wander off into the forest with a handful of shell shocked civilians and where the hell was Cpl. Jones? He slid back down the ravine and motioned for them to gather around him.