by Scott, Tim
Regardless of the meeting’s outcome, Mike had already decided he would go. The idea of not knowing your family’s fate and not doing what you could do to save them wasn’t something he was going to be able to leave behind. He had discussed this with Eric, Reid, and Marlee, and they each felt the same way. Davis and Aggeles would do what Julian commanded, and Mike was sure the two junior guys would slip out the first chance they got. He knew he would if his family’s fate was uncertain.
During the exploration of the bunker’s lower level, they had discovered small private sleeping quarters reserved for Congressional leadership. It was in one of these small but comfortable rooms that Mike found Eric with a map of the local area splayed out across a small desk in the corner of the room. He was intently studying information on local businesses that Marlee had pulled off the web from the COMM room.
“I see you’ve been busy,” Mike said as he entered and glanced around the small room.
Eric nodded, then said, “I’ve been mapping out possible locations of supplies and transportation that will see us through to the Garcia family’s last know location.”
“How’s it looking?”
“Difficult. This is a rural area and everything is spread out. If we can commandeer a couple of vehicles from a local dealership then we can run and gun until we get close to their location.”
“Where is the nearest dealership?” Mike asked, hoping it was close. He didn’t want to trudge through the countryside low on supplies without at least a truck or car to use as some level of protection from the Changed and the elements.
“Heritage Truck Sales is about eight miles from here, and they have heavy-duty trucks, mostly diesel, showing in inventory. Then we have Colonial Ford. They’re nine point seven miles out and will have some of everything. I think the Ford dealer is our best bet; unleaded fuel will be easier to come by and more plentiful.”
“Makes sense to me,” Mike said after thinking about it for a few seconds. “Now we just need a way to get there without becoming Z-bait. Maybe Julian can show us another one of those tunnels of his that doesn’t have any Changed waiting at the opposite end.”
“Maybe, but I’m not sure he intends to go with us. I get the feeling he has bigger fish to fry than chasing after a few people that’re probably long gone or worse, regardless how noble the cause is.”
Mike sat down on the edge of the bed and thought about Eric’s words. He was right, there was no guarantee Julian would go with them, and there was even a smaller chance they would locate Garcia’s family. Mike decided he didn’t care; they had to try. He was also quietly concerned that Julian would try to stop Marlee from going. He knew the man was highly interested in her new capabilities.
Eric sighed.
Mike, sensing something was on his friend’s mind, asked, “Why the long face?”
“What’s next, Mike?”
“Next?” Mike asked, not really understanding where Eric was going with the conversation.
“Yeah, after we find Garcia’s people or wherever we eventually land in this fucked-up world, what then? Those fucking monstrosities are everywhere now. Is anywhere we go safe, unless it’s a place like this? I don’t think I could stand to be locked underground for the remainder of my days,” Eric said with a shudder.
“I have no idea what we’ll face out there, but we need to establish some semblance of a community at some point. We can’t run forever.”
“I think we will be running for the foreseeable future …”
“Mike … Mike!” Marlee said breathlessly as she came flying into the small room. “They just nuked Switzerland! The whole fucking place is gone, wiped off the face of the planet.”
“Are you sure? Why would they nuke Switzerland?” Eric asked with a puzzled look on his face.
“The Large Hadron Collider,” Mike guessed, thinking about Julian’s theory. “Someone must have decided to shut the pace down permanently. Did you tell Julian?”
“No, I came straight to you. Do you think they’ll start nuking other places to try to stop the spread of this shit?” Marlee asked anxiously.
“I would hope not, but for once, since this mess started, we’re in the right place at the right time. Let’s go find Julian and see if he can shed some light on anything the news may not be aware of.”
Minutes later they found Julian holed up in another room similar to the one Eric had been using. He looked up at the group, and from the looks on their faces knew something was up.
“What happened?” he asked
“They nuked Switzerland,” Marlee promptly informed him.
“Nuked Switzerland? Doubtful. If anything the Collider went up because there was nobody there to maintain it properly. The Collider houses, or housed now, I guess, more volatile and toxic materials than you can possibly imagine. It must have finally gone up and taken a large chuck of the area with it. This changes things.”
“What do you mean this changes things?” Mike asked curiously.
“Only that any data on the experiments they were running and the things they did to cause this disaster are now lost forever. Future generations will have no blueprint to start humanity back down the right path by reversing some of the harm perpetrated in that facility. Assuming Man ever gets back to that point. Once the power goes out we’ll find ourselves in the Dark Ages for the second time in history.”
Eric nudged Mike. “Remind me to remind you not to ask Julian questions anymore. He never seems to have any good news.”
They all shared a small chuckle at Eric’s sarcasm, but deep down they knew he was right. Civilization was headed backwards and life promised to be more dangerous than at any time in man’s long and sordid past. They had not been topside for days now, but knew they would head back out sooner than later. What they would face was unimaginable. Between the more common yet still massively violent and bloodthirsty Changed and the unpredictable and nightmarish Mingled, the world was awash in zombie filth that would snuff them out without a moment’s thought. To make matters worse, Man himself had a tendency to fall back into barbaric mannerisms with the loss of law and order. Life was going to suck.
“I’ll head up in a minute before we meet and see if I can raise anyone on the emergency channels. Maybe if we can get some information on the local area it will go a long way in figuring out what we need to do,” Julian said as he rose to head upstairs.
“Julian, do you think there’s any hope left of finding Garcia’s family out there?” Eric asked pointblank.
“Little to none,” he responded briskly. They weren’t sure if his curt response was due to feeling powerless to provide hope to one of his men or because he thought the attempt was futile. They didn’t get a chance to find out because he was gone before anyone could say another word.
Mike looked at his friends and said, “I don’t think Julian expected this event to go down like it did or as fast as it did. He seems to be searching for his own answers.”
“I think you’re right; he was in the middle of searching for answers when this shit went viral. Now he’s stuck in the same soup as the rest of us, better prepared but stuck nonetheless,” Eric said, speculating on Julian’s mindset.
“We need to at least make an attempt to find Garcia’s family, and if that ends like Julian predicts we’ll need to find a safe place outside to start looking for good people to add to our group. We’ll need them to defend ourselves while trying to regain some form of safety and community,” Mike said, even though he didn’t know if he even believed that was possible any longer.
More than likely, they would spend most of their time fighting off Zs and unsavory humans. The worst of society always seemed to survive in adverse and deplorable conditions. Mike figured it was because they lived on a razor’s edge anyways so when things went south it wasn’t that long of a trip for them.
“I’ll go find Reid, he’s probably sleeping again,” Eric said with a knowing smile as he pushed himself off the bed, grunting at the pop of muscles and join
ts protesting his vertical aspirations.
“Okay,” Mike and Marlee said in unison, laughing at each other when it happened. For just a few heartbeats, they were lost in the moment and the rest of their problems faded away. Just for a moment.
The conference room they had been using for group meetings was filled. Even Reid had managed to make it and he looked rested, showered, and interested in what they were going to discuss. The room took on a tense and serious tone, made even more formal by the ornate wood table and black leather chairs they were sitting in. The Presidential portraits lining the wall helped to add a sense of importance to the meeting.
Julian started things off. “We need to discuss the reality of the situation and decide which way we want to go as a group or whether we even stay together as a group.”
Everyone looked up at that. This was going to be a serious discussion indeed, and it looked like all options were on the table.
Continuing, Julian said, “I think we’ve all seen the news by now. The world as we know it has gone to shit, and we’re in a dog-eat-dog situation at the moment. We need to weigh the risk of searching for the family members of Garcia against the risk of losing more of us.”
His opening statement raised eyebrows, but Mike understood where he was coming from. “We need to decide as a group what to do and we need to do it quickly. Eric, Reid, and I have discussed the next step and we’ll go look for Garcia’s family.” Mike paused to see how the rest of the room would react.
It wasn’t Julian who answered first, surprisingly, but Davis. “We’ll go with you,” he said without hesitation, nodding toward Aggeles and Shrader.
Garcia looked relieved and was smiling now. Mike only hoped they were still smiling when or if his family was found. In fact, Mike hoped they were all still around and smiling when and if they found Garcia’s family.
“Julian?” Mike asked.
“I always intended to go, I just didn’t want to steer the decision, and it had to be made voluntarily.”
Mike was growing to respect this man more and more every day.
Julian went on. “Now that we’ve come to an agreement, let’s get down to business. We’ll be headed past the airport we flew into on the way to a dealership where Eric thinks we can grab some respectable wheels. It should be easy to spot if it’s still there.”
After some additional discussion they went back to Eric’s quarters to look over the information Marlee and Eric had gathered on the local area. They would leave at first light, giving everyone at least one additional night of uninterrupted rest. It would be the last for quite some time.
CHAPTER 17
Travel in a New World
Julian led them out through another tunnel hidden in the lowest area of the bunker next to the railway. Mike was glad they were not going to use the rail. It looked dark and unpredictable. Julian said it was meticulously maintained, but he didn’t actually have firsthand knowledge of this. After walking for maybe ten minutes, they arrived at yet another huge steel door.
Someone must had made a pretty penny back in the day when they received the order for all the doors in this place, Mike thought.
That thought triggered another and he was suddenly awash in memories of his prior life. Their burgeoning business selling survival and outdoor gear was gone. It had just started to take off and now all the hard work he and Eric had put in was for naught. The ironic thing was he didn’t have access to a lifetime of supplies and gear that could have made a big difference in their current situation. He was sure the warehouse had been ransacked by now, and his prized F250 was probably gone as well. There was no chance they could go back to check on any of it now, because Tampa was probably about as accessible as the Moon.
After fumbling with a panel near the door for a few minutes, Julian must have finally entered the correct code because that familiar audible click of the lock disengaging brought Mike out of the funk he had started to fall into.
“Well, here goes nothing,” Eric muttered in the understatement of the century as he helped Julian and Shrader push the door open enough to peek outside.
They found themselves in a deeply wooded area on the side of a small hill, but, most importantly, the Changed were nowhere to be seen. The plan was simple: they would head northwest toward Interstate 64 and the Ford dealership. As soon as they came across the Interstate, about a mile from where they were standing according to the map, and if luck was on their side, they would try to find a couple of vehicles to travel the nine miles between the bunker and the dealership; otherwise it would end up being a long and dangerous walk.
Shrader took point and the group fell in behind him, with Davis bringing up the rear. Everyone was in a state of high alert as the protective walls of the bunker fell further behind with each step.
“Mike … Mike,” came Marlee’s whisper from just behind him.
“What is it?” Mike whispered back.
“It feels different now. Can you feel it or is it just me?” she asked.
“It feels different, it sounds different, and I think it will only get worse as time passes. We need to stay alert every second of the day and night now. Can you sense or feel anything out of the ordinary?” Mike asked, referring to her newly acquired talents.
“No, I think when I suppress the Change in me it mutes ‘those’ senses. It’s a blessing and a curse. If I suppress it, I can’t ‘feel’ their presence, but they can’t sense me so it’s a wash. I worry though if playing around with my Change can draw them to me. Not good.”
Mike thought about what Marlee had said and decided it was best not to mess around with something so unpredictable. “Keep your eyes peeled for anything that looks dangerous, dead or not. Let’s not forget there are wild animals in these parts as well.”
Looking small and helpless for a second, Marlee squeaked back, “Oh great, what else wants to kill us.”
Shrader put his hand in the air with his fist in a ball and went into a crouched position. The rest of the group stopped and followed his lead. They didn’t know what had alerted him, but they trusted his instincts.
“The Interstate’s just ahead,” Eric said so low Mike wasn’t even sure he really heard him. Mike shifted positions and was now able to make out the highway along with a small group of Changed wandering aimlessly down the center of the southbound lane.
After taking a long, careful look at them, Mike said, “They look to be original.”
“Original?” Eric asked, his face scrunching up with a look of perplexity.
“It’s a term Marlee heard on the news for people that changed without being attacked or bitten to affect their zombification, so to speak. You know how the media loves to have catchy phrases or names for things. Anyway, that group doesn’t have any obvious wounds to their bodies. Just bloody faces and fingers from ripping apart their ill-fated victims. I think they’re the most dangerous because they’re intact, unless one of their victims gave it the good fight.”
They all considered what Mike said as they watched the small group of Changed slowly meander past. No one really cared what they were called as long as they were headed in the opposite direction or were re-killed permanently.
Shrader, who was in full stealth mode, came shuffling back toward them and somehow managed not to make any noise and stay low at the same time. He briefly let them know he would be scouting the Interstate with Aggeles for a couple of vehicles.
While they headed out, the rest of the group took up positions to keep an eye on the underbrush. They didn’t need any unexpected surprises now that they were traveling without the benefit of the MRAP. Losing that vehicle was like losing your security blanket when you were a kid. Everyone was on edge.
About twenty tense minutes later Aggeles came running back up to their place of concealment and whispered intensely, “Holy fucking shit, they got Shrader. Those fucks ambushed us! What the fuck, maybe some of these fuckers are smart or something. We need to get the fuck out of here right now before they get down here.”
“Ambushed you?” Julian asked, concern etched into his voice.
“No time to bullshit right now, Julian, sorry, but we need to find a vehicle fast and move the fuck outta here. The woods are crawling with those fucktards.” Aggeles was visibly upset by what he has seen and his urgency was frightening.
“Maybe we should head back to the bunker?” Reid pleaded, obviously scared shitless.
“No fucking way, they’re crawling all over the place now. LET’S GET THE FUCK MOVING NOW!” Aggeles shouted, done trying to be quiet. That was all the motivation they needed.
Spilling out onto the Interstate, they spotted the small group of Changed they had seen earlier. They were now turned and headed in their direction, their hisses and moans rising in pitch and volume now that fresh meat had been discovered. Just as Aggeles had described, the Changed were pouring out of the tree line and onto the eastbound lanes of the Interstate. The only luck they had going for them now was the fact their destination took them west and toward the smaller group of monsters. They could see a pack of Zs in the distance swarming over something on the ground. Each person standing there knew with certainty they were looking upon Shrader’s final resting place.
With each passing day their group was getting smaller. Everyone silently hoped they weren’t the next to suffer that same fate. Garcia’s eyes lingered on the form of their fallen comrade longer than the rest. He must have been silently thanking Shrader for his sacrifice.
“Go for head shots and conserve your ammo; wait until you’re almost upon them to fire. Once they’re down, keep moving until we can find a ride. I think we can outpace them,” Mike yelled back to the group as he grabbed Marlee’s arm and pulled her along with him.