Josey pulled out the thermometer and checked Hope’s temperature again to see if the treatment for the fever had helped at all. “101.5. Thank God. We need to figure out what caused this if I’m going to be able to do anything else for her.” She looked to Kyle for any kind of insight to the cause.
“I’ve got nothing.”
Just as he started to think he needed to tell Josey the truth about the bite, Ron came through the back door and interrupted him.
“Oh, shit,” Ron said. “What the hell happened to Hope?” Ron looked down at the girl he had known her entire life.
“Don’t know—” Kyle said before Ron cut him off.
“We got a big problem at the wall, and you need to come look at it.”
“Can’t you deal with this without me?”
“Nope, it’s big. We're going to have a really hard time keeping the slabs out of here.” Ron leaned over and gave Josey a peck on the cheek. “Later, babe,” he said as he looked back at Kyle. “Are you coming?”
“Go ahead,” encouraged Josey. “I have Renee here to help me. There’s nothing good that will come out of letting slabs get in here. Go!” Josey moved over toward Kyle, leaned into him, and whispered through the rain. “I will take care of her. You have my word.”
Kyle paused for a second as he stared down at Hope. For a few seconds, he contemplated not going, until he looked over at Renee standing in the doorway and realized he had at least two other reasons why he needed to go and find a way to protect them. He leaned over and kissed Hope on the forehead, then reached down to pat the very wet dog on the head. “You watch over her, you hear me.” Storm looked up and let out a very small growl and Kyle knew she got it.
“Alright, let’s go,” Kyle said as he and Ron disappeared through the house.
CHAPTER 42
Hutch and Hicks
The barrel of the gun in front of Hicks was so hot it had long since started to smoke and then began to glow white-hot in the sunlight. He’d fed several belts of ammo through the gun and ended the undead life of countless slabs in doing so. However, he knew the gun would soon become useless, so he turned around to Hutch, who’d been almost as effective with his standard issue M16A2 that he’d been unloading on the slabs with, and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. “Hey, the SAW is done.” He pointed to the barrel of the SAW that had become so hot it had actually started to warp.
“Box marked B. You’ll like it,” Hutch said as he pointed down into the van and smiled.
His curiosity peeked, Hicks dropped down and feverishly looked for the correct box. Upon finding it, he opened the box and was amazed at what he found.
“You have got to be kidding me,” he hollered back up through the roof hatch. “Where the hell did you get this?” He unloaded the weapon from the box.
Hicks stood and admired the six-round semi-automatic M32 grenade launcher he held, almost like a proud papa, in his arms. He’d only had the pleasure of firing one once when he was going through advanced weapons training with the Rangers. At the time he’d found it to be a very formidable weapon and hoped he would one day have the opportunity to use it in real combat. That day had finally come.
He lugged the new weapon and the two boxes of extra ammunition that were stuffed inside the crate with it, back up topside with Hutch.
“Well, Ranger, let’s put that thing to use. Don’t just stand there with that silly grin.” Hutch took aim with his rifle and stopped two more approaching slabs. “Over by the building, got a whole group of slow-movers coming around the corner.”
Hicks raised the launcher and let two rounds fly toward the cluster of slabs. Two large explosions later, and the group of about twelve slabs were littered all over the field. He just grinned at the sight of the damage done.
Over the next hour, the two men continued to steadily engage the enemy until they ran out of targets. Hutch kicked the spent shell casings out from under his feet that littered the top of the van, while Hicks continued to scan and look for any sign of life or undead moving.
“You had a little too much fun with that M32. Did you save any ammo?” Hutch asked as he hopped down off the van and surveyed the body-strewn field below them. “So what do you think the body count is?”
“First, yes, there are still about a dozen rounds left, and second, I lost count at 200 over an hour ago.” Hicks set the M32 down and picked up his rifle before he jumped down to join Hutch.
“Figure about a thousand, myself. It’s amazing how fast these mindless creatures can be. I was actually getting a little worried on that next-to-last wave, that we would have to pull inside the van to finish them off.” Hutch pulled his blade out of his thigh sheath and plunged it into the head of a slab that was still twitching a little.
“Can’t be too sure they’re dead,” Hutch said as he wiped the blood and brain matter from the blade.
“So, I gotta ask. Why did we stay and fight when we could’ve just as easily driven away and saved all that ammo?”
“I told you, I go where I can do the most damage to the slab population. Every slab we drop is one less chance of a human getting bit. Ammo is plentiful if you know where to look. Besides, aside from me, when was the last time you ran across an uninfected person?” Hutch dispatched another twitcher. “Keep your eyes open for anymore movers. I’m not leaving until I know each and every one of these slabs are all down—permanently.”
Before Hicks could answer, he finished off a slab that had been completely torn in half, but was still trying to bite at his boots as he walked up to it. “I guess I see your point. It was about a week before I spotted you, since I last saw another normal. Unfortunately, that didn’t turn out too well, though. He tried to steal my rucksack and leave me with no supplies. So I had to track him down and leave him with a little reminder of why it’s wrong to steal. Let’s just say he won’t be picking his nose with his right hand anytime soon. Once he’s healed enough to use that hand again, he’ll only have three fingers to choose from to do the picking.”
“It’s not a very pretty world out there,” Hutch said. “But I’m not ready to give up quite yet. I figure if we survive long enough, and thin out the slab herd as much as possible, then we have a chance of coming back from the edge of extinction. The longer this continues, the slower and more decayed the slabs get. Eventually, we can turn the corner on this, and gain the upper hand.” Hutch found another trio of slabs to finish off.
“Yeah, I get that. But like I told you, I’ve seen things while I was trekking cross country, and I think even with the slabs gone, the biggest threat will be the other survivors. I’ve seen humans do things to each other out there that I never saw before, even deployed and fighting in a real war.” Hicks stopped as he felt the gorge in his stomach start to rise. The urge to expel it became almost overwhelming as he thought about some of the things he’d witnessed. He took a knee and closed his eyes and did his best to drive away the unbidden memories.
“You mentioned earlier you were in Afghanistan. How much action did you see over there?”
After a few seconds of silence passed, Hutch turned to make sure Hicks had heard him. What he saw next chilled him to the bone. Hicks was down on the ground wrestling with a slab. It looked to Hutch as if the slab had managed to grab him around the face from behind and drag him down before he could reach his weapon. The slab’s arm was muffling Hicks’ cries for help and it had sunk its teeth into Hicks’ shoulder. Hutch took aim with his knife and threw it straight into the forehead of the slab. It immediately released Hicks who then fell to the ground next to the dispatched slab.
Hutch ran over to the fallen man and checked his wound, hoping it hadn’t made it through the tactical vest Hicks was wearing. At first all looked good, until he started to see a moist spot start to form on the area just past the edge of the vest. He pulled the vest over and slid open the collar of Hicks’ shirt to see where two teeth had missed the strap and punctured the skin.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Hutch exclaim
ed as he jumped up and took two steps back from Hicks, who for his part, was still trying to figure out what had happened. “What the hell, man! How could you let that happen to you?” Hutch stayed back from his recent partner.
“I … I don’t know what happened. I bent down to tie my boot, and the next thing I knew, that thing was on top of me.” He didn’t want Hutch to know that he hadn’t been tying his shoe, but that he had been having a temporary emotional breakdown. That was one of the first things they’d taught him in Ranger school, to avoid emotional bullshit it was safe to do so. They drilled into his head that losing your cool in battle would be detrimental. It would cause you to drop your guard and make a mistake that could cost you, or worse, one of your teammates, their life.
“This isn’t good for you, son. From everything I’ve seen, this is not good at all.” Hutch kept a safe distance from the Ranger, positioning himself in a way that Hicks wouldn’t notice that he had his hand next to the holstered sidearm on his right hip.
Hicks slowly got up on his feet and made his way to the rear step of the van and sat down. He looked as if the world had just stopped spinning and he was waiting to see what would happen next.
“How long before we know if I’m infected?” He looked over at the older soldier, with a look of hope that he would say something different than what he already knew in his gut to be true.
“Can’t say for sure anymore. In the beginning, it could take a day to show up. Recently, though, I watched a fairly healthy man take a non-lethal bite on the thigh, and he turned in less than five minutes. I know that’s not what you wanted to hear, but I’m not about to lie to you and give you false hope. It’s not what I would want someone to do to me,” Hutch responded with a very disappointed tone in his voice.
“I guess we just sit and wait then, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess we do.” Hutch pulled a chair out of the back of the van and situated it directly in front of Hicks with about a 10-foot buffer between them. “So while we wait, why don’t you regale me with some of your stories of how you survived and what you saw until you became fortunate enough to make my acquaintance?”
Hicks could tell he was just trying to get his mind off of the situation. It was the same thing he’d w itnessed on the battlefield when a mortally wounded soldier was going to bleed out, but the corpsman had been too chicken-shit to tell him. So he watched the medic try to get him talking until the inevitable happened; at least he hadn’t gone out screaming. Hicks obliged, though, and started to talk about his trek from Jersey to St. Louis.
“Well, let me tell you something about them mountain folk of West Virginia. You ever see that movie about those guys that got lost canoeing….”
Several hours later Hutch adjusted the side mirror as he put the van in gear and started to pull away. He took one last look over at the only grave he’d dug that day. He had placed Hicks’ pair of army-issued boots atop of it and he saluted one last time before he faced forward and moved on to his next destination.
He leaned over and put an X over the town of Paducah on his foldout paper map. He then traced his finger over a red-highlighted line that led to Nashville and made a few mental notes of the possible paths there before he folded it back up and slid it into his pocket.
CHAPTER 43
Kyle, Ron, and Josey
Arriving at the wall, Kyle immediately recognized the scope of the threat that had caused Ron to pull him away from Hope, no matter how sick she had been. The section of the wall made out of the soda trailer was being literally torn apart. The wind had picked up so much that its sheer velocity had the trailer rocking side to side, and it looked like it wouldn’t be long before it was knocked over completely. As it rocked back and forth, it created huge gaps on each end of it as it broke away the sheet metal and wood that was attached to it. David, Brian, and Leon were already on the scene, but he could tell by their body language they were at a loss for how to handle the problem. With all the noise from the wind and rain, the trio of men hadn’t even noticed that Kyle had arrived until he patted David on the shoulder.
David spun around, startled by the pat, and almost took a swing at Kyle. “Dude, you almost got popped. Any ideas on this?” He turned back in complete bewilderment at the situation and threw his arms up in the air.
“Yeah. You three head back to the armory and get as many of the 4x4 posts that we have behind the house, and get them back here as quick as you can. And grab as many people as you can that aren’t tied up with anything else and bring them, too.” He then turned and said, “Ron, stay here and make sure nothing gets through. I have a plan.”
Ron acknowledged with a nod and slung his rifle from his shoulder to a more readied position. Once Kyle was out of sight, he climbed up on one of the cars situated in the barrier adjacent to the wavering trailer to give him a better view of anything approaching the wall.
As Ron swept his eyes side-to-side trying to see through the rain, he thought he caught a glimpse of something moving in the distance. As he focused on the area of the movement, he saw it again, a lone figure moving just out of sight, obscured by the rain. He raised his rifle and attempted to find the figure through the scope, but the rain beaded up on the glass, and he couldn’t see clearly. Ron squatted down to make himself less obvious, in the hopes that whatever was out there would eventually present itself open for a shot. Within seconds he saw it again. This time it was closer, and it appeared to be heading straight for the broken wall.
“Gotcha,” Ron said as he snapped the useless scope off the rifle and aimed down the iron sights. As he drew a bead on his target and his finger started to squeeze on the trigger ever so slightly, he finally got a clear visual of a slab approaching. He took a deep breath to steady his aim and just as he was about to squeeze the trigger, he was struck in the back of the head and fell forward, releasing a very badly aimed shot into the distance. Unfortunately, a loud crack of thunder occurred at about the same time, so the report of his shot went unnoticed by anyone in the camp.
The strike to Ron’s head was hard, and he began to feel himself fading as he fell to the ground. Just before the world turned black, he looked behind him and saw two figures standing over him. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness, were the two figures as they leaned down with gritted teeth to grab hold of him. He barely managed to mutter aloud before he was lost to the blackness, “Damn, fell for the bait-and-switch.”
Kyle was the first to return to the damaged wall and he immediately began looking for Ron. He’d left him guarding the area and Kyle knew Ron wasn’t one to shirk his duties, especially at such a critical time. “Ron! Where you at?” He received no response, so he called out again and again. Over and over he was greeted only by the sound of the rain and howling wind. He was discouraged with Ron’s absence, but at the moment the wall was the more pressing matter. He started to unload the duffle bag he’d gone back to the camp to get. As he finished laying out his tools, he spotted David and several other camp members approaching, each one of them totting one of the 4x4 beams they had been sent to collect. As each person arrived, Kyle sent them to a particular spot near the broken trailer-fence and told them to wait there.
David caught on to what Kyle had planned for the repairs and instinctively continued to direct everyone to the right locations. They positioned eight of the 4x4 studs all the way down the inner side of the trailer at each doorpost, but the problem would not be solved so easily. To prevent the storm from knocking the trailer over they needed to also shore it up from the outer side of the wall as well. As this dawned on David, he turned to tell Kyle how insane it would be to go out to the other side, but it was already too late. He found Kyle had already thrown the studs over the wall, and before he could say anything, Kyle climbed up and leapt over the wall himself. David grabbed Leon and had him take his place holding the stud in place and reactively followed Kyle over the wall to cover his back.
David landed on the outside of the wall not 30 seconds later. He was immediately sta
rtled by the sight of Kyle removing his knife from the head of a slab that had attacked in just that short amount of time. “Holy Shit! Was he alone?” David took up guard behind Kyle’s back.
“I hope so. Now give me a hand with these studs,” The two of them began to line up the studs, jamming them into the soaked ground as far as they could before they pushed them into the side of the trailer. Kyle reached down into the tool belt around his waist and pulled out his drill, along with some large screws, and started to drill them through the studs and into the metal frames. David kept watch for trouble as Kyle drilled the beams into place. As Kyle reached the last one, David spotted three approaching slabs at a distance, although it didn’t appear as if they had noticed them yet. “Hurry up, dude, we have visitors!” David whispered to Kyle, who glanced over his shoulder to see how much time he had. With his attention momentarily diverted, Kyle’s cordless drill came off the head of the screw and banged loudly against the metal door. The noise was enough to get the attention of the passing slabs, and they immediately turned toward the unprotected friends.
Kyle quickly reset the drill onto the screwhead and zipped it into the wood and through the metal. David raised his pistol, even though he had never been known to be the best marksman, and drew a bead on the three slabs. As Kyle worked feverishly to get at least two more screws through the last stud, he heard David behind him fire off six rounds. As the last screw was placed, he spun and saw two of the slabs still approaching and David trying his best to sight them in and fire. Kyle snatched the 9mm pistol out of David’s hands and fired just two shots and stopped the threat. “Here you go, rookie.” Kyle gave David a smug grin. David re-holstered the pistol and followed Kyle around to the front of the trailer where Leon and Brian waited to give them a lift over the wall. Kyle couldn’t hear what David said behind him, but he was pretty sure it was a whole bunch of excuses for why he’d missed the shots.
Humanity's Hope (Book 1): Camp H Page 18