Alpha of the Omega

by Corona, A. M.

  Once the men were ready they headed out. “How far do you think the main gate is from here?” asked Hobbs. “I would think one mile at most if that?” Bobbie once again went first knowing the direction they needed to go. He looked left and then right before he headed towards the gate.

  The men reached the gate and the horror was too much to bear. The closer they got they could see the bare bones on the ground. It was hard to tell what bones belonged to what body as the zombies pulled them off to feed. The ground was stained a crimson color from the massacre. Clothes were torn and littered the ground. The stand was a futile one Hobbs thought. They did not stand a chance just like at Rosewood. The road gave way to weeds that pushed themselves through the ground. There were no scavengers about as there was nothing to feed off of. He figured this was best because he was not sure how the virus would affect the birds if it affected them at all. He sure hoped the virus did not jump species. If it did they would have to face more than just zombies but zombie animals. He shuttered at the thought.

  The ground was scorched from the flames of the ordinance that was dropped. He looked around to find a Humvee that was not set ablaze. Most of them were burned and the tires were melted. Hobbs tried the first Humvee he saw that was not damaged too much by the fire. He opened the door and looked inside to make sure nothing was lurking inside. Seeing that it was clear he turned the knob seeing the heat up light glowing he was ecstatic that the vehicle had some juice. When the light went off he turned the knob to start the engine and the vehicle roared to life. Then he quickly shut it off as to not attract anything. Then pushing his luck he tried another one. The battery was dead. He did this three more times until he found one that worked. Meanwhile Bobbie looked in the back of the vehicles for fuel cans.

  “Hey Hobbs,” Bobbie shouted. “What is the difference I see two different colors of cans?” He could just open it up and smell it. Couldn’t he just use common sense Hobbs thought? “The light tan colored cans are for the water and the dark green ones are for fuel. Bobbie climbed up throwing his first leg up and then his second. He gently shook the first can to determine how full it was. The fuel sloshed and Bobbie decided it was pretty full. He scooted the cans to the end of the tail gate and checked the second one. He did this to four vehicles checking each one to see if it was full and scooted it to the back of the tail gate if it was. One of them had a big green wooden box at the back of it. Curious Bobbie lifted up the top of the box and he saw a slew of different items. There were chemical lights, maps, pencils, pens, protractors, and what he assumed was some sort of small table that was the size of a small desk. He noticed a small spray bottle that held an orange liquid. He knew right away that it was CLP, which was a liquid used to clean and keep the rifle working as it should. There was even a small bag that had a red cross on it. Medical supplies he thought. There was a dark green bag on the side. Curious he opened the bag. Instructions unraveled upon opening the bag he quickly glanced around it. It was a claymore! Damn that has can do some damage. He pushed the box on one side then on the other towards the back of the vehicle. The box was rather heavy and took him a moment before he finally reached the end.

  “Hobbs, come over here.” “Moving.” Hobbs walked over towards Bobbie. He saw the green box and was immediately able to identify it. “That’s a field box.” Bobbie got down from the vehicle and grabbed one end and Hobbs took the other. They lifted the box and lowered it to the ground. Hobbs opened it. Taking a mental inventory of the items in it. He saw the claymore bag and his eyes went wide as he saw the destructive explosive.

  Combat engineers were very creative when it came to explosives which made them extremely dangerous. Hobbs remembered his schooling in advanced individual training. Each type of explosive was used for different purposes. Even if they did not have the right explosive they were able to make them out of what they had. The claymore could be replaced with pieces of metal in which they could push them into a block of C4 and when it exploded the metal pieces would go flying just like a claymore. When breaching a door one wanted a pushing charge. They would take their water bags from their MREs fill them up and tape them to a small amount of C4 and when it exploded it would destroy the door handle and locking mechanism allowing them to enter in. When there were stronger doors they could use rubber. They would set blocks of C4 and attached any type of rubber and attach it towards the hinges of the door making a rubber strip charge. When it went off it would push the door back and it would fall to the ground or give them the ability to kick it open. Hobbs’ favorite was the anti-tank mine. All that was required was a piece of C4 and a metal plate. The thicker the plate the better. The C4 would accelerate the metal plate penetrating the tank and killing anyone in its way. Combat engineers were definitely a force multiplier.

  The two men lifted the box onto one of the vehicles they were going to use. “Where’s Cowan?” asked Hobbs. “I don’t know? He just sort of disappeared when we got here.” Hobbs looked around to see if he could spot Cowan but he was nowhere in sight. They stood there for a minute waiting for him to show up. He came running up with a small crate in his hands. Cowan placed the crate down on the floor gently. He pulled back the metal prongs on the edges and lifted the crate. It was full of brown packing material. Cowan pulled some out revealing the grenades. The round green balls were in small paper sleeves. Cowan grinned showing his slightly yellow stained teeth. “You know I could not leave without finding something like this.” Hobbs shook his head. “Of course not.” Then Cowan unslung the assault pack. “I also found this,” Cowan proceeded to open the bag and pulled out several blocks of C4. It was a demo bag. “There is one more over there, he pointed behind him.” “Perfect,” the words spilled out of Hobbs mouth. “Yeah and there are a few crates of C4 as well. There is a small box of blasting caps as well.” C4 was a highly stable explosive which made it the choice of explosives. The myth was any explosive was unstable and would go off with flames. This was not true for C4 there were two things that were needed in order to set it off pressure and fire. You could set the C4 on fire and it would not explode. They used to scare the infantry as combat engineers would light it on fire to heat up their MREs. The infantry would dive out of the way or fall into a fetal position and the combat engineers would laugh at them. It was a cruel trick but never got old.

  “There’s also a few cases of MREs as well and I picked up some rifles which were lying on the floor. There are also some ammo crates and magazines.” “Perfect then we are all set,” said Hobbs. Feeling pleased with the plunder he split up the materials between the two different vehicles. Cowan got in one and Hobbs and Bobbie got into the other. They drove towards the store and parked the vehicles. Cowan arrived first followed by Hobbs and Bobbie. The noise had brought zombies to the area. More than they had seen in a long time.

  Hobbs spoke up laying out the plan. “We were able to get all that we needed and more. We have food, fuel, field supplies, maps, and explosives. We will wait it out a day or two for the zombies to dissipate again and then Cowan’s team will move out.” “More waiting then huh,” said Thomas, rather irritated at the thought. “Hurry up and wait the army way,” responded Cowan smirking. Hobbs was itching to get out there and head out just as much as everyone else but they had to do it the right way. Risks assessments was military life. Doing a risk assessments and trying to lower the risk as much as possible was ingrained in him. Even though there appeared to be no army he always reverted back to his training. It kept him alive this long and there was no reason to change it.

  Hobbs showed them how to load the magazines and then spent a lot of the day filling them up. When they finished with one they would put them back in the crate. It took the ones that were not familiar with loading magazines a little bit longer as they dropped several rounds on the floor just to pick them up and put them in. When that task was completed Hobbs showed the group how to clean their weapons as he broke down each section laying them down in front of him. When he got to the star chamber he p
aused. “Now this is a son of a bitch to clean.” He put his pinky finger in the chamber swiping it back and forth and he pulled out his finger and it was black from all the carbon. He continued on until he fully explained each part of the rifle. “Make sure you do not use too much CLP it will clog the weapon and cause it to jamb. You just need a few dabs and that is it.” Then the group started cleaning their rifles and asking Hobbs if it was clean enough. The group got frustrated as Hobbs would tell them time and time again they needed to do a better job. “Fucking hell! I am tired of this shit!” said Thomas, as he threw the weapon down on the ground. “This is the fifth time you told me it is not clean enough. What do you expect this to be spotless? That is impossible!” “Thomas I know what you mean we would go through the same thing when we would come back from the field to turn in our rifles after cleaning. It is very important that your weapon is clean or it will jam and you don’t want that. When you are in a safe and secure place such as this you want to do a full cleaning of your rifle. When we are on the road and if the weapon has heavy usage you want to do a quick field cleaning. This won’t take as long but is necessary.”

  Once the group had finished he started to show them how to use the rifle. “Each of you have CCOs attached to them.” Becky spoke up, “what is a CCO?” “Close combat optics. If you look through it you will see a small red dot. Theoretically anyone can pick it up and can use it as if it was zeroed to them. Even with that sometimes you will need to adjust it. Keep the front cap on it and you can fire with both eyes open. The second great thing about this it’s easier to see your surroundings using your peripheral vision. Becky again spoke up. “Well why don’t you two have one on yours?” Cowan and Hobbs looked at each other but Cowan spoke up first. “Hobbs and I really never cared for them. We prefer good ole iron sights.” “Well then I would prefer to do that then.” “Well the first problem is you have to take the rifle and adjust the sights to your sight picture. Each person has a different sight picture. We can’t do that here because we don’t want to attract any zombies plus it will take time to teach you how to use them. So the CCOs will be your best option for now.”

  When they were done they all went about their business except Thomas and Hobbs. Becky read one of the romance novels that she had found on one of the racks. Bobbie stayed towards the back and kept to himself. Edward and Lilly were doing word cross puzzles and every now and again asking each other if they knew the answer that would fit in the allotted amount of boxes. Cowan just read the gun magazines. Hobbs continued to show Thomas some of the basics of marksmanship. Hobbs figured he would have time to show the others but Thomas was going out there sooner than the others.

  The next day the zombies had left the area. This was the day. The day he would say good bye to his old friend hoping he would see him within a week’s time. “Cowan are you ready?” “Yeah I am. I guess I will see you on the flip side huh?” “Yeah I hope so. You take care of yourself.” “I will and see you in a week.” Cowan put out his hand and Hobbs took it bringing Cowan closer to him as they patted each other on the back. There was always a bond between soldiers that could not be broken. Hobbs opened the door and let the three men go through as they got in the vehicle and sped off.

  Chapter 15 – The Adventure

  Cowan drove the vehicle north in the direction they had seen the helicopter go. Thomas took the front passenger seat and Bobbie took the back. The city was full of blood stained cement and gravel and skeletons. The destruction was devastating and it fucked with the mind. The wild started to take back what once was theirs. Cars were abandoned and left there to rot never to be used again. Cowan moved slowly steering the vehicle left and right. The path to the gate was mainly clear of cars because people panicked trying to get out of the city. Some of the empty car doors were open and skeletons were half way in and half way out. Cowan imagined the people were pulled out of their cars. Windows were broken and cracked. One of the cars he passed had a half-eaten body. The portion that was outside the car was picked clean but the rest of the body in the car was intact. He vomited into his mouth from the sight. As they drove on making their way north the destruction was worse.

  They made their way towards the hospital which was the most likely place the helicopter would have set down if it did set down in the city. When the hospital came within sight they strained their eyes to see if there was any helicopter on the roof. “I don’t see anything at all,” said Cowan. Bobbie strained his eyes in hopes of finding something there but there was nothing. “Hey guys I don’t see anything at all,” said Thomas. Cowan shook his head. “Yeah I knew this mission would be too easy if the helicopter was there. Thomas or Bobbie do you guys know where there is another helicopter pad? Maybe another town or something?” Thomas was the first to answer. “I have no idea. I really didn’t even know the hospital even had a helicopter pad.” “Like Thomas I have no idea. The hospital was the only place that I knew of. There is another town about thirty miles away from here though.” “Well shit that doesn’t help at all. This will be like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” said Cowan, as he shifted slightly in his seat. “Well we can try the other city or we can head back. We do have a week but I don’t want to be out here any longer than I have to.” Damn this was a bad idea. Make a decision right or wrong make a decision. “Well I guess we will be heading to the next city then,” said Cowan rather decisively.

  “Are you sure that is a good idea? I mean we don’t know where the hell that thing went. It could have turned and went off in a different direction.” Thomas said rather scared. “Hell I did not even want to go on this damn mission.” “We can always try the city and if we can’t find anything we will head back. It shouldn’t take us no more than an hour if the road is clear,” said Cowan, as he looked back at Bobbie. “What do you think old man?” Bobbie just smirked. This could be his chance to get rid of Cowan altogether. If he could get Cowan out of the way he was sure he could get Thomas out of the way. The whimpering fool. “Yeah I think we should at least try,” he said slyly, as he started to hatch his plan to get rid of Cowan.

  “I just want to go on record and say this is a bad idea,” said Thomas. “Duly noted,” responded Cowan. “Are there any back roads to get to the next town?” “The highway is the only way out of town,” said Bobbie. Cowan not liking the response responded with, “Ok well that is the way we will have to go then.” They headed to the highway out of town and Cowan stopped just as they were about to leave.

  The road ahead was filled with cars. There were accidents and some of the cars were on the side of the road in the owner’s futile attempts to make it out alive but they either got stuck or got swarmed by the horde. Cowan moved slowly going off the road where he could. As they passed Cowan noticed air bags were deployed. The cars were smeared with dry dark blood on the sides, hoods, and rear of the cars. Skeletons laid apart. Some of them whole and some missing pieces. Something he noticed which was not in the city were other skeletons from animals that met the same fate as their human counterparts.

  He pressed forward scanning the area left and right. The last thing he wanted was to get caught out on the road and not being able to make a quick escape. Then it happened. They heard the thunder rolling towards their way. The dark clouds were coming upon them. Then rain drops came slowly tap, tap, tap on the vehicle. Cowan reached towards the center and turned the knob which activated the wind shield wipers. The wipers methodically went from right to left leaving a few streaks each time then disappearing as the wipers returned in their methodical manner.

  Then lightning crashed down near the vehicle and Thomas jumped in his seat. Cowan looked at him with bewilderment. Here was a man that was scared of the storm. He had his run in with people and their phobias but this was the first time he had known a man to be scared of lightning. He recalled a specialist Brown who was scared of the dark. He was a new transfer to the unit right before they were going to deploy. He was assigned guard duty. He refused to do so because he was scared of t
he dark. Now Cowan could understand that. Standing watch late at night with the enemy that could come at any moment. Scared of lightning was something new to him. He figured everyone had to have some phobia. His was heights but he learned to deal with them throughout his military career. To each his own he decided.

  “Calm down Thomas it is just lightning. We are safe in here. We are insulated from it with the rubber tires. There is no way we can get hurt,” said Cowan trying to be helpful and understanding. “Are you serious? You’re scared of lightning? Cowan I can’t believe you wanted to bring this coward with us.” Cowan quickly brought the car to a halt and turned around to face the attacker. “Shut your fucking face or I will shut it for you! I’d rather take him than the piece of shit you are! Oh I lost my wife and I lost my friend. I can’t take it anymore. Oh woe is me.”

  Bobbie’s face reddened as he looked at Cowan. “Shut that hole in your face or I will shut it for you!” “What are you going to do old man? Just sit there like the piece of shit you are. You couldn’t help your wife and you couldn’t help your friend. You are just weak.” Bobbie tried to pull the rifle around but it hit against the seat. Cowan pulled out his knife from the sheath and placed in against Bobbie’s chin. Tapping his chin a few times with the cold blade. “You better think twice old man. I am not only faster than you but I have killed more people than you have. I am sure of that and I would not think twice about adding another to the list. Maybe I should leave you here on the side of the road.” Cowan pressed the knife further breaking the skin on Bobbie’s chin. “Then I would be rid of you altogether.” Bobbie just stared at the man with no expression on his face. Bobbie was contemplating what to do next. Would he accept his fate and die now or would he quiver in fear in hopes of getting an opportunity to kill him later. He was not a coward he told himself but he could swallow his pride for now and get his revenge later.