by K. S. Black
“What’s the point of the story?” Kevin asked.
“The point of the story is that this group of VC didn’t feel the bullets and kept coming just like the infected who don’t seem to feel anything either and just keep coming. They must be impervious to pain because of the brain damage, and they’ll kill you if you don’t know how to take them out quickly.”
Kevin rubbed his arm and lowered his eyes.
“That was a disturbing story,” the deputy said.
“You need to be aware of how relentless they are. It’s important to stay armed at all times. Aim for center mass or the head—the bigger the caliber the better. If you don’t kill them, they will get back up.”
“Okay, I got it,” she said.
“Do you?” Cooper stared straight into her eyes until she turned away.
“Is he always so intense?” she asked Kevin and Hayley.
Kevin shrugged his shoulders and Hayley nodded her head up and down.
“My name is Julie Harvey, by the way. I never really introduced myself.”
“I was wondering if you had a first name,” Kevin said, “I thought it might be Deputy.”
Julie and Hayley smiled. The tension that had been lingering in the air between them started to dissolve.
“How’re you holding up, Hayley?” Julie touched Hayley’s arm.
“I’m doing okay, I guess, but I miss my mom a lot. She died.” Hayley hunched over and looked at her hands resting on the table.
“Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry about your mom.” Julie cupped her hand over one of Hayley’s and let it rest there for a few seconds. “My mom died when I was seven, and it was just me and my dad after that.”
Without moving her head, Hayley turned her eyes upward to Julie’s face. “Do you have kids?”
“No kids. Never been married either. This job is kind of hard on relationships, plus I’ve never met a man that I’ve wanted to settle down with.”
“I bet they run when they see you coming,” Kevin said.
“Kevin!” Hayley scowled at him.
“I don’t even know why I told you all that.” Julie bit her lip.
“I was kidding.” He looked at her with a repentant smile.
“I know. I just feel like I’m in some kind of weird dream, and I’m supposed to wake up now.”
“I know that feeling.” There was a long stretch of silence before Kevin spoke again. “How’d you end up in Blythe?”
“I grew up here. My mom was a part of the Chemehuevi tribe. The Chemehuevi, Mohave, Hopi and Navajo make up the Colorado River Indian Tribes who live on the reservation near here.”
“Cool—you’re half Native American,” Hayley said. “I thought you might be. So was your dad from around here?”
“He worked for the Riverside Sheriff’s Department for thirty-five years. He pulled my mom over for speeding, and they got married three months later.” She smiled at Haley.
Cooper didn’t know how he missed it before. Julie was striking, even with her dark hair pulled back into a bun and wearing a deputy’s uniform. What was he thinking at a time like this? He pushed the thoughts out of his head.
“I wanted to be just like my dad,” Julie said. “I studied criminal justice in college. After I finished my basic training, I worked in San Diego for a few years before I came back here. My dad wasn’t happy about me being a cop. It took a few years before he warmed to the idea. I’ve been working for the Sheriff’s Department for almost ten years.”
Cooper interrupted the conversation and stood up. “We better head out. Make sure you have supplies and gear pre-packed and map out a couple of different ways you can get out of town if things get crazy. I can almost guarantee that it will, so don’t wait until it’s too late. Be smart, Deputy.”
He thought for a moment before he fished a business card out of his backpack and walked to the counter to a grab one of the pens by the cash register. “I’m going to give you my contact information.”
Julie followed him. He wrote down the radio frequencies he had preset on his and Shannon’s ham radios and handed the card to her. “Tucson’s only about two hundred and seventy miles. You can reach me on one of these frequencies if you have a ham radio.”
“Thank you, Cooper. But I doubt I’ll need this.” She looked at the card before she put it in her back pocket. “I need to stay here,” she said. “The Sheriff’s department and all the local police departments in the area are at minimum manning. I have to help out where I can. Plus, my dad is here. He doesn’t travel well. I was on my way to check on him but wanted to grab some coffee first.” Julie looked down at her shoes.
Kevin hobbled over with Hayley who held Okami in her arms. Cooper was grateful that his presence put an end to the conversation.
“Here,” Kevin said and handed her one of the gourmet sandwiches that he had found in the refrigerator. “Take care of yourself, pig,” he said.
“You know I can’t take that. Thanks for the thought, but you should really put that back or leave some money for it.” She shook her head. “Don’t get into too much trouble on your way to Tucson.”
“Stay safe, and try to keep those two in line, Hayley.” Julie brushed the hair away from Hayley’s eyes. She touched her cheek before she wrapped her arms around both Hayley and the puppy. Taking a step back, she scratched Okami under the chin. “I’m glad I got to meet you all, but I wish it was under different circumstances. Please stop looting—it’s dangerous.” She turned and faced Cooper. “I hope you’re wrong about all of this.”
“I wish I was, but we both know I’m not.”
Kevin and Hayley waved goodbye. Cooper watched her walk to the cruiser. Chances were slim to none that they’d see her again.
CHAPTER 21
May 10 – Heading to Tucson
“Why didn’t we get any gas in Blythe when we had the chance?” Kevin asked.
“We’re good. There’s more than enough fuel to make it to Tucson without a problem,”
“Is this some kind of top secret military Humvee that runs on nuclear power?”
“No, smartass. But we’re getting about a hundred and fifteen miles per gallon.”
“No shit. How?”
“I guess I didn’t I tell you about the Tom Ogle Black Box.”
“Seriously? I thought it was just some urban legend.”
“A mechanic friend of mine built it. The man’s a genius when it comes to anything on four wheels and a big shot in the Baja racing world.”
“Are you talking about Jeff Stillson?”
“So you’ve heard of him?”
“He’s a big shot. Period. I want to meet him if he’s still around.”
“I hope he is.” He squinted at the road ahead. “What’s going on up there?”
He passed Kevin the binoculars.
“Hundreds of cars are lined up on both sides of I-10. There’s gotta be another road block like the one back on I-5.” Kevin continued looking through the binoculars. “Dude, we gotta get out of here fast. It’s the fucking army down there. They’re booking this way.”
Two Humvees and an MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle sped towards them. Hayley was asleep in the front seat. Cooper made sure she was buckled in before he slid to a stop. Everything in the vehicle not buckled down shifted forward.
“Hey!” Hayley jerked awake.
“Put your helmet on and grab hold of Okami.”
She held onto the puppy with one arm while she put her helmet on with the other.
“Kevin, there should be two helmets back there. Put one on and hand me the other. Make sure you’re buckled into a harness.”
Cooper turned the Humvee around and headed back towards Blythe while putting on his helmet and checking his harness. Puffs of dirt rose up in the air ahead of them, and then a couple more appeared even closer.
“Is that what I think it is?” asked Kevin.
“They’re shooting at us. I don’t think they’re going to follow us all the way to Blythe. B
ut if they do, it’ll be easy to hide.”
The rounds continued to hit the dirt in front of them. Cooper slid open the compartment door labeled shields on the right-hand side of the dash. The dark gray panels moved upwards covering the four side windows and the two small rear windows on the back doors.
Kevin jumped a little in his seat when the red lights came on inside the Humvee. “What is this thing? The holy, freakin’ Batmobile?”
Cooper had guessed incorrectly that whoever was following them would give up the chase. More dirt kicked up around them.
“Shit they’re firing .50 caliber rounds at us.”
For a second time, he opened the small compartment next to his leg and pulled up the red valve up and locked it into place. He was about to turn the valve to start the nitrous oxide injection, but Kevin’s arm shot between him and Haley.
He pointed at a large military convoy in the distance moving down the mountain towards them. “Look!”
A thirty vehicle, military convoy, which included LAVs (Light Armored Vehicles), MRAPs, and several Humvees and 6x6s, drove towards them at seventy mph. “They’re going to box us in.” Kevin scanned the highway.
“Hold on!” Cooper slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel hard. Both the Humvee and the trailer disappeared inside a swirl of white smoke before coming to stop one hundred and eighty degrees in the opposite direction. He stomped on the accelerator and headed directly in the path of the MRAP and the two Humvees.
“Are you fucking nuts?”
“We have a better chance against these three vehicles than all those vehicles coming down the mountain.”
“I would’ve been better off if I stayed at the cabin,” Kevin said.
He had no idea what he was going to do next, except avoid getting hit. The MRAP stopped sideways across the road and tried to block him from going any further. The two Humvees slowed down and started firing at them again. Cooper’s Humvee hadn’t taken any hits yet, but he knew that would change when they got closer.
Something whooshed above their heads. “What was that?” Hayley was breathing hard as she spoke, but Cooper didn’t answer.
BA-BOOOOM! A trail of white smoke from an anti-tank missile hung in the air in front of a heap of burning metal that used to be one of Humvees on the other side of the road. The MRAP disappeared inside a substantial puff of white smoke and fire. They heard the impact a quarter of a second later. Large pieces of burning metal flew into the air and came down with a thud on the highway. Hayley opened her mouth but no sound came out.
Cooper hit the brakes and skidded to a stop. The second Humvee was pounded with multiple 25mm rounds hitting it with such force that it to rolled end over end and disintegrated.
“Holy shit! What just happened?” Kevin asked.
“I think we’re about to find out.” Two of the military vehicles that had come down from the mountain pulled up beside them. Cooper disengaged the shields and waited.
CHAPTER 22
May 10 – Heading to Tucson
With his legs unsteady after the wild ride, Cooper stepped out of the Humvee and approached a lanky, U.S. Marine Corps sergeant with a baby face. Strapped to the back of the LAV’s turret was a large Texas flag that flapped wildly in the breeze. Inside the turret, an even younger looking corporal manned a .50 caliber machine gun.
“Y’all okay in there? Hope we didn’t scare you folks too much.” When the marine spoke, he was all Texan.
“Give me a second.” Cooper held up one finger. Then he bent over and placed his hands on his knees. He closed his eyes and took in a couple of deep breaths to regain his composure. When he stood, he was eye to eye with the young sergeant. He put out his hand. The sergeant immediately shook it.
“I’m Cooper Reid.”
“Good to meet ya, sir. I’m Jake Johnson.”
He motioned for Kevin and Hayley to get out of the vehicle and made introductions.
“What just happened?”
Three pairs of eyes focused on the young marine.
“We saved your asses.”
“What are the marines doing out here?”
“We were stationed out at Twentynine Palms.” The sergeant pointed to the vehicles and the marines behind him. Several of them waved. “After the attacks, they sent us to L.A. to help patrol the streets. Then some Homeland Security fuck, excuse my French, in a black uniform ordered us to shoot civilians. We told that zero and his asshole buddies that we didn’t sign up for that shit and left. Everything got real crazy after that.”
“What the fuck? They told the marines to shoot civilians. Why?” Kevin asked.
“They didn’t tell us why. They just told us to do it and expected us to follow orders. They looked as American as you and me. All we could figure is that the government is getting rid of people—not everyone though. Some of the civilians were evacuated. I don’t know what happened to them.”
“Let’s hope that other marines are willing to take a stand,” Cooper said.
“Yeah, well those Homeland Security fuckers didn’t like that idea and tried to stop us. There were so many of them. They were well trained. We lost our L.T., our staff sergeant and a couple of other good men.
“We high-tailed it back to Twentynine Stumps to regroup. But it looked real bad when we got there. There was nothing we could do, except maybe get our asses shot off or get hauled off with the civilians. So we commandeered some vehicles to get home to our families. We were on our way east when we spotted y’all.” The sergeant crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“We can’t thank you enough. Are you all going to Texas?” Cooper eyed the flag on the LAV.
“A few of us are going to Texas, but we’re from all over. Y’all are welcome to join our convoy for as long as you need to.”
Cooper turned to Kevin and Hayley. “What do you think?”
“Shit yeah,” Kevin said.
Hayley gave him a thumbs-up.
“We don’t have that much further to go, but we’ll follow you into Tucson.”
“Roger that. We’re going to clear the area around the roadblock and make sure we can get through all the cars blocking the highway.” Johnson climbed on the back of an LAV. “We’ll be back as soon as we’re done.”
“What can we do?”
“Y’all just sit tight for now. We got it covered.”
Johnson walked back to the convoy and asked for six LAV and four MRAP volunteers to stop any trouble at the roadblock. Everyone raised their hands.
* * *
Two hours later, the volunteers returned. They had cleared a path through the roadblock and the abandoned cars. There was a firefight but no casualties or injuries on their side.
“We took down seventeen soldiers dressed in black. They were waiting to ambush us. They looked similar to the Homeland Security forces, but these guys seemed more sinister—kind of like Nazi SS instead of Americans. They wore these patches.” Johnson handed Cooper and Kevin patches that had been cut off the uniforms.
“WFP? World Federated Police? I didn’t see this patch on the dead soldiers back at Lake Arrowhead. Have you ever seen this before?” Cooper asked the sergeant.
“It’s new to all of us. Like I said, they looked as American as you and me. We killed twelve of them and captured five.”
“What’d you do with the soldiers you captured?” Kevin asked.
“We executed them as enemies and traitors of the United States of America. Before we shot them, they said their orders came from the World Federated Police. Two of them pleaded for their lives and said that most of the troops had been recruited from the military or the police.”
“You executed them? Shit, dude.”
“Their orders were to kill everyone they came across. We couldn’t just let ‘em go.”
Cooper was determined to find out more about the WFP and why so many Americans would turn against their own people.
* * *
The convoy headed east, no chatter on the radios after the harrowing d
ay they all had. A few hours later, they stopped and set up camp along the side of the highway. They drew straws to see who would take the first watch. After that was decided, small campfires began lighting up the roadside. Someone had an iPod with speakers, and music drifted through the night air along with some much needed laughter.
The young marines settled in and ate their MREs while Cooper offered up his theories about what was going on.
“Hey, you’re Cooper Reid from the EOW website,” a corporal said with a tone of awe in his voice.
“That would be me.”
Most of the marines murmured their recognition. Cooper asked Hayley to tell them about Dante’s Influenza. When she was done, Kevin told them about the woman who attacked him at the resort. He showed them the bruise on his arm and passed his jacket around so that the soldiers could inspect the bite mark on the sleeve. A few of them described the crazies they had run into the night they left L.A.
The photos from San Bernardino upset everyone even though they had all witnessed the murder of civilians but in a different setting. Several of them added eyewitness accounts of their own. After about an hour, the camp grew quiet, each face etched with worry.
CHAPTER 23
May 11 – Heading to Tucson
The smell of bacon and coffee wafted through the air along with the sound of conversation and clanking canteen cups. Everyone was up at dawn. Johnson carried two metal cups filled with coffee.
Cooper, Kevin, and Hayley used the Humvee’s hood as a breakfast table. Johnson handed Cooper a cup of steaming coffee. After Kevin declined the offer, Cooper reached for the other cup.
“You’re my new best friend.” He took a sip of the strong brew. “I haven’t had coffee this bad since I was in the Coast Guard. But it hits the spot.”
“I had a feeling you were ex-military. I wouldn’t have pegged you for a puddle pirate though.”
“This is one former puddle pirate who is happy to be rescued by a bunch of crazy jarheads.”
“You were an officer, weren’t you?”