Hell Happened (Book 3): Hell Released

by Terry Stenzelbarton

  She paused as they turned and headed back to their home. “You made sure these people had a chance to start over, to start something new, with the best of what made the United States great. They can worship how they please, assemble, listen to whatever music they can find, talk to you about their problems. That’s the first amendment right there.

  “We’ve now been a community for more than six months and everyone over the age of 15 has a real weapon, so that’s the second amendment.

  “The other top 10 hardly mean anything now, but they will as we grow as a community. You’re starting with what you have and from what I hear, no one is complaining about your leadership. You just keep being the guy you are and I think a hundred years from now, when the teachers in first grade talk about George Washington, Patrick Henry and John Hancock, they’ll also mention Col. Russ Hammond.”

  Both of them laughed at the thought.

  Things had been going well and Russ didn’t know why he was feeling a foreboding. It could have been the weather changing so quickly this year. It felt colder than usual for this early in the fall. Winter was coming and the community was already preparing, but without the civil servants they’d all grown used to, they were going to have to make sure they could survive for the next five months of cold, ice, snow and the usual colds and flues. Winter was a different season than the other three and much harder on everyone.

  Lisa was talking about Connie, the file clerk who was her best friend and how she was pregnant. Connie would be giving birth to the first child to be born of the survivors and there were all sorts of gossip surrounding the pregnancy. Russ avoided it, but Lisa had to hear about it because she spent a lot of her time with the civilians.

  Connie was living with Robert, a heavy equipment operator who was instrumental in clearing a clear field of fire area outside the fence that surrounded to community. He was also the new golf course attendant. It took him about a week to figure out how to use all of the mowers correctly, but he was able to keep a playable golf course open. This endeared Robert to a lot of people and he was paid with fresh brownies more times than Connie cared to think about from the women who played. The men who played golf made sure anything Robert needed from fuel to a light bulb was found and fixed without delay.

  Robert was a nice guy about 10 years older than Connie and the two seemed to make a good couple. What worried everyone was that the child could be born, only to die when it started breathing air on its own. No one knew if any child born would survive.

  Russ had heard it already so was only half listening. He was watching the patrol truck that was circling the base. It had stopped and the man on the passenger side had gotten out of the truck with a pair of large binoculars. He looked to the north through the glasses then said something to the driver. The driver got out and looked through his pair of binoculars. Russ wondered what had got their attention and started walking quicker back to his home.

  He was pretty sure it wasn’t the mutant zombies, because the men weren’t going for the spot lights or the heavy machine gun. Instead it was light enough that they’d seen something and weren’t sure what it was.

  During the day, Russ always carried his radio in case someone wanted him. On his evening walks, he wanted it to be just him and Lisa. The only other times he was without contact, was either on the golf course or the tennis court.

  Lisa seemed to have noticed that Russ had tuned her out and looked up to see what had drawn his attention. The men in the Army truck were climbing back inside and headed back to base in a hurry. Russ thought it was unusual enough for him to hurry back and find out what it was.

  He and Lisa had just reached their home when the siren began blaring. Capt. Eldred and his housemate Lt. Deardra “DeeDee” Beck were already in the street waiting for the HUMVEE to pick him up. DeeDee was one of the two regular Navy survivors from the Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes IL, where she had been an instructor. She’d lost her husband, her parents, three older sisters and a younger brother to the plague. Like others, she heard the radio broadcast and came to Ft. Benjamin Harrison. Her and Myles became friends and lived together.

  Myles was filling Russ in even as Russ was still catching his breath. DeeDee went with Lisa into the colonel’s house to get the keys for Russ’ truck. Lisa knew whatever was going on, Russ would want to be there to oversee.

  “A big-assed fire, Colonel,” Myles was telling him. “The patrol truck said they could see the smoke and flames on the other side of 63rd street. They said it might be coming our way,” he told him.

  Others were coming out of their homes now. “Get on the radio, captain. Let’s get all our firefighters to the fire station.”

  Lisa came back with the keys to Russ’ truck and his web gear, which included his radio. Channels one and two were reserved for military use only, but he could already hear chatter when he turned it on.

  Eldred left with the Army truck, and Russ, Lisa and DeeDee were climbing into his truck. Lisa would drive so Russ could use binoculars and the radio. “Clear this channel except for official business,” he said and the talking stopped. After a brief pause, he heard the captain calling all the volunteer firefighters to the fire station which was on the other side of the medical clinic.

  Over the summer, the fire station had been cleared and made ready to use in an emergency, but the volunteers had been trained to fight house fires, not forest fires. Fourteen men and women showed up at the station within minutes of Russ and Lisa. Capt. Eldred had the station open and the first of the fire trucks were already moving onto the street.

  “Army truck,” he said into the radio, “who is on duty tonight?”

  “This is Hilario, Russ,” he heard a young Puerto Rican say. “It’s me and one of the new guys.” Hilario was one of the original settlers of the community and wasn’t technically in the Army, but still pulled patrol once every 10 days. It was the kind of man he was.

  “Excellent. Pull ahead on the road and wait for the trucks to get manned. Once all the trucks get lined up, lead us to the fire.”

  “Roger,” he said. “Better get them to hurry because that sucker is huge.”

  The station had been augmented by nine tanker trucks. No one was an experienced firefighter, so Russ went with the idea that if a structure was on fire, flooding it with water was the answer. The trucks were rolling out even as Russ was giving instructions. “Go, Hilario, go!” he said over the radio.

  The Army truck lead the way and 10 fire tankers followed north on Lee Rd. to 63rd St. Russ followed the line of trucks and for some reason, he wondered why every man driving turned on their sirens. Russ looked at Lisa who was beside him. “There are no other people on the road, no one is living within 100 miles outside our community and still men will turn on the sirens.” Lisa smiled. How could she argue? Men would always be boys.

  There was a jog in the road where 63rd St. crossed Fountain Springs, but Russ doubted any of the drivers slowed down. Picking up his radio he told the trucks to add some extra distance between them and the truck in front of them. If one of the trucks lost control, he didn’t want to lose three our four or more because of one careless driver. They acted like they were driving on a Formula 1 track and cut the corners to make the straightest line possible and took the jog at better than 60 miles per hour.

  No sooner had he said it than the seventh truck in line cut the second half of the jog too close at the Winona Rd. intersection where 63rd St. went from being a wide three-lane road to a narrow two-lane. The driver had been cutting too far to the right and didn’t see the road width change quickly enough. The driver over-corrected and then saw he was headed for a pair of telephone poles. He jerked the wheel, but even with both feet on the brakes, slammed into a tree in a yard.

  The trucks following him were already slowing and Russ picked up the radio microphone. “Keep going to the fire. We’ll take care of this.

  “Captain Eldred. Deploy the firefighters as you see fit and we’ll catch up soon.”

 
Russ heard the captain acknowledge as he was climbing out of the truck. Lisa and DeeDee were out as well. The lights from Russ’ truck showed the tanker had hit hard and the front of the vehicle had wrapped around the large Maple tree. Russ went to the passenger door that was closer while the two women went around the other side. Lisa was on her radio calling for the doctor and anyone who had gone to the fire station as a reserve. She wanted someone to bring the ambulance.

  Russ was in the passenger door and sliding across to the driver. Steam was gushing from under the dashboard.

  Russ put two fingers on the man’s neck. He checked once, then checked again. He was glad the driver’s door wouldn’t open for Lisa and DeeDee. Russ remembered meeting the man behind the wheel, but could bring his name to mind.

  He picked up his radio. “Don’t hurry, doc. And we won’t need an ambulance.” The driver had not been wearing his seat belt and probably snapped his neck when he hit the tree. There was blood on the windshield and dripping down the man face. Teeth were embedded in the steering wheel and looking down, Russ suspected there were massive internal injuries. Even if the man was still breathing, he doubted he would have lived long.

  Russ reached up and closed the man’s eyes before climbing back out of the cab of the truck. Lisa and DeeDee were waiting for him, hearing that the man was already dead. Both hugged him once he was back on the ground. “Stupid, stupid, stupid mistake,” Russ said. “I should have been in the lead and kept us at a reasonable pace. I should have told them to slow down. We didn’t have to hurry so fast as to cost a good man his life.”

  Russ was beating himself up and doing a good job of it. Lisa let him vent. She didn’t say anything; just let him speak his peace. When he finished, she took his hand in hers and told him he could not have guessed or foreseen anything like this. There was still a fire that had to be dealt with.

  Russ nodded, hearing her, but not listening. It was one of the worst habits he had, that he beat himself up over perceived mistakes he made.

  The doctor arrived in his Lexus, followed by one of his students in the ambulance. Russ asked DeeDee, who was both younger stronger than Lisa, to stay with them and help where she could. The sailor nodded and gave Lisa a hug before she and Russ returned to the reason they were called out this evening.

  Back in his truck, Russ drove. There was really nothing to say. Russ drove by Finch Drive, where the trucks had gone. Lisa didn’t know if it was because he was still at the accident, or had just not been paying attention.

  He hit the brakes and backed up, turned down the road and saw the enormity of the fire. “Base, this is Hammond. Get the reserve force out here and anyone else who can hold a hose.”

  “Roger, sir,” was the quick response, but Russ didn’t hear it. He was already out of the truck. Eldred had formed a good fire line with his trucks and hoses and the nine trucks were fighting a line more than 2,000 feet long in the forest. A house to the far left of the line was already fully engulfed. Houses on the right were also catching fire even as the deluge of water was pouring in.

  The tanker trucks had pumps that could empty the truck in minutes, but Eldred had already seen water was being wasted and started pulling his men back off places which weren’t as important.

  “Captain!” Russ hollered at him over the sirens that were still blaring for some reason. “Get those sirens off, then move four trucks to the other side of that row of houses!” he ordered, pointing to the far east end of the fire. “We can’t defeat it, so let’s redirect it.”

  Myles immediately saw what the colonel was saying. He had intended to break the fire into smaller sizes, but it was a battle they couldn’t win with the limited number of people they had.

  Picking up his radio again, Russ continued to give orders. “Truck Two! Knock down that fire to the pond over there. We’re going to run out of water soon and we’ll need to suck water from there. Truck Three, give him some support.

  “Is there anyone running out of water?” he asked, hoping the men and women on the hoses could hear their radios over the rushing water. The operator of Truck One said she was out. “You’re now our Class A Pumper. Get over to that pond and switch your hoses over to filling up the other tankers as I send them.” That put the driver of the truck at risk of not being able to defend herself from the fire, but the woman didn’t hesitate. Instead, she threw the hose she’d been holding back on the truck and drove through the water the other trucks were spraying and nearly drove into the pond. She jumped out and started attaching hoses like every one had practiced. As soon as she was ready, she told Russ to start sending trucks. While she was waiting, she sprayed the fires her hoses could reach.

  Within minutes, six or eight more cars and trucks were pulling up to the fire with the reserves. Russ had Lisa gather them in one spot while he directed overall effort. When she had them grouped, Russ ran over and pointed to two people at a time. “Go help him with the hose,” he would say and point to one of the firefighters on the line, then point to the next two people. The last four people he ordered to go after bottled water and make sure the firefighters on the line were drinking at least a bottle every half hour.

  Russ could see the fire was trying to jump the gap in the trees that Eldred had already put down. He ordered Truck Five to keep that gap open at all costs or the fire would rage south to 63rd St. and probably jump the road and race toward the community they had worked so hard to build.

  Russ heard Myles call for more water and Russ sent him the newly refilled Truck Two through the gap that was still being held open by the other trucks. It was hard to see, but Russ saw that the fire Myles was fighting had jumped to the houses in the cul-de-sac. He ordered Trucks Five and Six to refill as fast as they could and run the gap to help the captain whose trucks were running out of water.

  The fire was winning and Russ was using every man he had keep his line from collapsing and forcing a retreat.

  A new sound came from behind him and Russ turned around to see Deputy Doug in the cab of one of Robert’s bulldozers. Behind him was Robert on another and they were followed by two Michigan Loaders, a backhoe and the food truck that delivered food, water, soft drinks and snacks to the crews during the day.

  Russ hadn’t heard Lisa call them on channel three of the radio, but he was glad to see them. He pointed both dozers through the gap to go help Eldred who was about to lose. “Truck Five, cover the dozers with your stream!” he hollered over the radio.

  He directed the Michigan Loaders to start widening the gap and the backhoe to begin creating a clear area west of the current fire to keep it from encircling the firefighters. Six men from a truck that pulled up, pulled out chainsaws they’d gotten from somewhere and began cutting down trees so the backhoe could operate more effectively.

  He watched the people work and heard the dozers taking down houses and pushing them away from the fire, giving Myles the breathing room his firefighters needed to knock down the conflagration that had almost over taken that side of the fire line.

  Lisa came up behind him as he finished directing two of the trucks to begin moving the fire further to the west. There was no way they were going to be able to put the fire out completely, but he was feeling confident the community was no longer in danger. She handed him a hotdog and a Poweraid. He hadn’t realized how hungry he’d gotten and looked at his watch. They’d been on scene for seven hours already.

  Capt. Eldred and his team finally put down the east side blaze and were re-assigning personnel to Russ’ group. Realizing some of the men hadn’t taken a break in more than seven hours, he began relieving crews for a half hour to eat, sleep if they could and recover from the night. Even though every one of them stopped to eat and drink, he didn’t see any of them sleep.

  By late in the morning, the men and women had fought the fire to the east side of Lee Rd. and away from the community. Four trucks stayed on scene to make sure it didn’t turn back, but with the winds now changing direction, Russ was confident enough to leave the scene. />
  He and Eldred were both exhausted as was everyone else who had spent the night fighting the fire. He figured he’d go home and get a few hours of sleep before returning to the fire, but the heavens opened up and cold rain began falling as they were driving back to their homes. Lisa had gone home earlier and Russ gave Myles a ride in his personal truck.

  They drove by the scene where Myles had decided to start fighting the fire and saw the blackened trees and houses. Russ thought about getting out of his truck, but the rain turned to an icy sleet.

  Russ was telling Myles of his good decisions and pointing out where he could have done better, but the younger man wasn’t really paying attention. Russ thought he must have been really tired until Myles finally spoke up. Without asking, Russ knew Myles was referring to the man who died the night before when his tanker had crashed. “His name was Max. He wanted to be a carpenter.”

  Myles had been friends with Max, one of the young Navy men who had come from Illinois with DeeDee. He was now suffering recriminations and he would for days and weeks and months.

  Russ called for a three-day break following the funeral for Max. Because of the lingering fear of the mutant zombies, a funeral pyre was raised in the parking lot of the fire station for him. His body was cremated and nearly everyone in the community showed up for the memorial. He was buried with full military and firefighter honors in front of the station, beneath the flagpole.

  Snow began falling as people returned to their homes.

  Later, Russ would make sure everyone knew how much effort everyone who participated in fighting the fire had made in making sure the community survived, but this day was reserved to remember Max.

  An early winter,” Russ said to Lisa as she slipped her gloved hand into his on the walk back home from the fire station. “If it’s snowing this early in September, we’re really going to have a long one.”