by TW Gallier
They didn't come any further down our row.
"Hi, Jenny," Sergeant Foster said. He was a heavyset man who looked all of eighteen, despite his rank. Though he was speaking to me, the sergeant was staring at Fiona. "If you want to eat, you know what you gotta do, babe."
"What if I wanted to eat right now?" Fiona asked.
I gasped. So did Kate and Sonya. The blonde ignored us as she pressed up against the cage and bit her lip sexily. I gawked, but not really that surprised it was Fiona who broke first.
"We'd take you in back," Sergeant Foster said, looking quite eager. "After you proved you meant it, we'd give you all you can eat."
That sickened me. US soldiers, who'd all sworn to God to serve and protect, had turned into savages. Brutal, barbaric savages. They only wanted one thing from us.
"How many of you do I have to prove myself to before you will feed everyone else in this cage?"
I think Sergeant Foster was as shocked by that as I. Selma, Willa, and Nicole all cried out in surprise. Fiona didn't relent, giving the soldier a simmering look.
"I-I can't do that," Sergeant Foster said.
"Then I can't give you what you want, either," Fiona said, and promptly turned away. "Good-bye." She caught my eyes and shrugged. "I tried."
"Hey, what about us?" one of the new women asked.
"You get nothing, whore," Sergeant Foster snarled, glaring at Fiona's back.
He ordered the detail back to the mess hall. I watched them leave, stomach aching with emptiness. My children had to be suffering even worse. One year old Isobel started to sob as Nicole held her tight and rocked. Isobel, Elsa, and Casper had lost both parents, so Nicole took care of them now.
Fiona watched Nicole a long moment, then looked me in the eyes. Her eyes narrowed, but I could see her despair, too.
"You know we don't have a choice, right?"
I nodded.
"The longer we make them wait," she whispered, and then paused to avert her eyes and grimace. "The rougher they'll be with us when we do finally, um, give them what they want."
"I know," I whispered, forcing the words out of a painfully tight throat. I looked at Sergeant Coleman smirking as he approached the newcomers' cage. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Lord how I know."
Then I had to listen to Sergeant Coleman happily tell the newcomers what the requirements were to be fed. The cries of outrage echoed through the hangar as I headed for my children. My body still ached from the battering I took on the night of our capture, and a queasy tingle filled my lower belly. Dark visions of things to come filled my mind.
It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 3
Roger
"Roger, we have a problem," Mike said.
Charlie and I were gathering our gear and getting ready to be relieved by the next watch. I expected Brett and Terrel to show up at any moment. Mike was still watching the airfield.
"Are helicopters coming our way?" I asked.
My biggest fear was the soldiers would spot us using infrared and attack. Apache gunships would tear us all new assholes in a heartbeat.
"No, I see five boats coming across the river," he said. "It looks like a full infantry platoon heading for Tower Hill Road."
I quickly located the boats coming across the Ohio River. They were in large ski boats, and still all five boats were filled to the max. It was too dark to count how many men at that distance, but Mike was right. They had the capacity to carry a full infantry platoon.
The house we were living inside was on Tower Hill Road, which ended at the road paralleling the river on our side. Did that mean they knew we were there? And how would we fight a full platoon? They outnumbered us four to one.
I checked the marina on the other side of the river. The soldiers were using it as their base for waterborne operations. There was some activity over there, but it didn't look like they were preparing to launch more men and boats our way. It was so dark I could barely see anyone moving around over there with just binoculars. So I had to assume it was a routine patrol being sent out to reconnoiter the hills on the Kentucky side of the river.
That patrol was a threat to us. If they discovered us, then the rogue soldiers might move a force over to occupy that hill. We'd be shit out of luck then.
"Let's bug out," I said.
I led the way down the hill. The hill was heavily wooded, with large homes scattered atop and around it. We moved quickly and quietly. Zombies were few and far between in the area, but we had to be on constant vigilance.
We met Terrel and Brett halfway. They were struggling with three zombies. I pulled my machete and charged in to help. Terrel was on his back with two zombies trying to bite him. He managed to get a hand on the throat of each and was barely keeping their infectious teeth at bay.
My first thought was to chop their heads off, but that might injure his hands. So I took the machete in both hands and stabbed the first zombie in the back and right through his heart. As he died, Terrel was able to turn all of his efforts on the other. He flipped the enraged monster over and onto his back, whereupon Mike split the zombie's skull in two. Charlie raced past us to help Brett with the zombie he was struggling with, and also split his zombie's head in half.
"What the hell happened here?" I asked.
Brett remained on his back, shaking violently as he struggled to calm down. Terrel looked just as shaken, but was pulling himself together quickly.
"We didn't see or hear them," Brett said. "One second I was making a joke, and the next I was on my back."
"I swear, they were hiding behind trees as we came up," Terrel said. "I hope they aren't getting smarter."
That was a disturbing thought.
"Let's get back to the house. Mike, take point and keep your eyes open," I said. Then to Terrel, "We spotted a dismounted patrol crossing the river and heading toward Tower Hill Road."
He glanced to the east, toward the airfield. Terrel had a haunted look in his eyes. I suspected I had that same look when I thought of my family being held by the enemy. Every distraction, every little thing that postponed our reunion was like a stake through the heart. We shared an understanding look, before turning back toward the house.
It didn't take long to reach it. The large house was dark. No light penetrated the heavily-covered windows. Drapes and blinds were not enough. We also nailed plywood over the windows on the inside of the only room light was allowed.
I stopped everyone at the edge of the woods and used my flashlight to signal the house guard. There was a red lens on the flashlight, and a moment later I saw the three red flashes indicating we could go on it.
Jake was the guard.
"Is there a problem?" Jake asked, indicating Terrel and Brett.
"Maybe," I said. "Stay on guard while I talk to Sean."
We entered through the back door. The rooms were pitch black. Our main room was the first floor master bedroom. There were three layers of blankets hanging from the ceiling to block any light that escaped when we opened the door. Sean turned upon our entrance, his eyes narrowing when he spotted Brett and Terrel.
"What happened?" Sean asked.
Vince and Fred were in the room with him. A single kerosene lantern hung from a nail in the ceiling and made the room uncomfortably hot. They were all in t-shirts at the moment and studying our map of the airfield and surrounding terrain.
"We spotted a full platoon crossing the river," I said. "It looks like they are heading for Tower Hill Road."
Sean let out a creative string of cuss words, some of them even in English.
"Yeah, I know," I said. "We don't have much time. Do we hunker down here? Or bug out and hide in the woods?"
"We don't have time to take all of our gear," he said. "Everyone arm up for a fight."
That surprised me. "You want to take on a full infantry platoon?"
"No. But we'll fight if we have to," he said. "I just want to be ready." He turned to Charlie, "Take everyone up the road to our r
ally point. Roger, Mike, and I are going to take a look at his patrol."
"We are?" I asked, looking at Mike.
"Yes. We are."
Terrel spoke up. "There are also zombies in the area. Three jumped Brett and I on the way up the hill."
"That figures," he said, scowling.
Yeah, when it rained, it poured. But we were getting used to dealing with a few zombies a night. I thought we were getting exceptionally good with machetes and keeping the noise down while doing it.
It only took a few minutes before everyone was ready to move out. Charlie led the others out first. We covered them until they were out of sight. The rally point was just over the hill, and down a side road. I led the way back into the woods and toward the river.
There were no homes on our side of the road all the way down to Mary Ingles Highway. The highway and some railroad tracks ran along the river bank on that side of the river. We arrived in time to see the point man pass under the tracks. They were almost to Tower Hill Road, so we guessed right about their objective.
We watched until the point man turned up our road. Most of the platoon was still out of sight on the tracks when we moved out. I led the way back toward our house. We moved much faster than the patrol. I wanted to see if they went straight to our house, or passed by it.
Sean had other ideas.
"Listen and hear me out," he said, looking me dead in the eyes. "I think we can take them."
"Why take the chance? There are at least thirty of them, probably closer to forty."
A full platoon wasn't a common thing, not even in the best of times. I thought the Rough Riders had to be suffering from personnel loss, so few if any platoons were fully staffed. Maybe two-man fire teams instead of three. Maybe only two fire teams per platoon. Of course, I was sure that platoon would prove me wrong, just because.
"They have weapons and ammo that we desperately need," he said.
"And they will use them against us."
"Not if we ambush them the right way," he said. "I've been working on a plan."
"Famous last words," Mike muttered.
"What did you have in mind?"
I didn't like it. Who would rescue Jenny and the kids if I was killed on some stupid ambush?
"Deer rifles," Sean said. "We snipe them from a distance, and make it look like local survivors."
Personally, I didn't think we had to use civilian weaponry to hide the fact we were still alive and in the area. I bullet hole was a bullet hole. Sean was more paranoid about that aspect. Why would the other soldiers dig out the bullets to see who shot their comrades? The enemy was the enemy, no matter what weapons he used. Sean seemed to think it mattered.
"Most of the hunting rifles we found have scopes," he said. "I really want to keep it to one shot, one kill. That'll really spook them."
He had a point. Nothing scared me more than a good sniper. We had five scoped rifles in the house. Three of them were found in that house.
"What the hell," I said. "We don't have time to argue the point. Let's grab the rifles and go meet up with the others."
Sean led us back to the house, where we collected the hunting rifles. Then we headed for the rally point. Charlie and the others were waiting. Everyone seemed to like Sean's plan, so I could see I was outvoted.
"Roger and I will each lead a team," Sean said. "I'll take Terrel, Brett, Fred, and Jake. Roger will lead Mike, Charlie, and Vince. What side of the road do you want, Roger?"
I had most of the combat experienced men, so gave Sean the higher ground. My team would fire upon the patrol from between the houses. Both sides of the road were heavily wooded, so it wasn't much of a difference. I insisted Sean's team take three of the five hunting rifles.
We moved out immediately. I led my team across Tower Hill Road, and into the woods. We didn't get far before I heard gunfire down on the road. So we moved up quickly. Vince and Mike had the deer rifles. Vince carried the Winchester XPR 30-06. Mike got the Remington 783 bolt action firing .270 rounds.
The infantrymen were down and their three fire teams were expending a lot of ammo into the woods when we emerged behind them. Sean's team wasn't firing anymore, and I could only pray they bugged out before the soldiers returned fire with those SAWs. I spotted seven men down, they looked dead to me.
"Take out the fire teams first," I said, dropping to one knee behind a thick oak and took aim at the man I thought was the lieutenant. There was a radioman next to him, while he spoke on the radio. "Fire."
All four of us fired at once. We took the patrol completely by surprise. I killed my man with a shot in the face. Then I put a round into the radio, before pumping two more rounds into the radioman. Two of the SAW gunners were taken out before the third turned his weapon on us.
"Get out!" I shouted.
We melted back into the woods. The soldiers stopped firing within seconds of our departure. I motioned everyone to stop and listen. There were no sounds of a counter-attack, so I moved us back to check on the soldiers.
"They took their dead," Mike said. "My opinion of them has risen."
I just grunted. That was good. Now they were burdened with dead and wounded, as well as the casualties' weapons. Of course they didn't leave any weapons behind for the enemy to use against them. And that made me wonder how well stocked their unit was with weapons and ammo. Resupply had to be a problem even for them.
"Looks like they are retreating," Vince said. We could hear them moving away from us, and back towards the river. "Sean's plan is working."
Sean's team opened fire on the soldiers again. I led my men back into the woods and towards the sound of fighting. The soldier's return fire was not as intense. I arrived just in time to see them starting to sort themselves out. I suspected that they lost their platoon sergeant as well as their lieutenant, because they were arguing over who was doing what.
"Probably nothing but buck sergeants and corporals left," Mike said.
"Arguing with know-it-all Spec-4s," I said as we each found a tree, dropped to a knee, and took aim. "Fire them up, boys."
I have to say, Vince never missed. He fired five times in our brief firefight, and killed five soldiers. Mike fired six times, but only killed four. Charlie and I continued to fire single shots so the soldiers wouldn't know we had automatic weapons.
Between Sean's team and mine, we knocked off fifteen more of them, leaving them with just ten men. Those ten soldiers abandoned their dead and heavier weaponry, and ran for their lives. Before I ordered my men to pursue, Sean stepped out of the woods and waved us over.
I spotted one of the soldiers slowly moving his hand toward his weapon. I was just twenty feet away, while Sean and his team were still at the edge of the woods across the street. At that range I could easily kill him, but it occurred to me he might know what happened to Jenny.
Charging over with a growl, I distracted the wounded soldier long enough to reach him before he could grab his rifle. Kicking the M-4 away, I drove my knee into his chest as I thrust the barrel of my M-4 under his jaw.
"One wrong move and you're dead, motherfucker," I growled.
"Fuck you. I'm already dead," he barely got out. "Sucking…chest…wound."
I saw it then. There was no saving him. We didn't have a medic and a helicopter to rush him back to a field hospital. He didn't have long to live.
"Quick, tell me," I demanded. "Y'all took nine women and eight children two days ago over in Florence. One of the women was a pretty brunette, twenty-eight years old, with two young boys and a tow-headed girl. Her name's Jenny. Do you know who I'm talking about?"
"Fuck you."
"Tell me!" I demanded and drove my knee into his wound. I could hear the others running toward me. "Hurry. Tell me the truth."
He groaned and ground his teeth, eyes squeezed shut against the tears that flowed anyway. Part of me was appalled by what I was doing, but I had to know. He very well could know about her, and why they took our families.
"Yeah. I know who you…u
gh…are asking about," he rasped out. "Pretty. Jenny. Gives great head."
I seized my M-4 in both hands and thrust is violently away from my body, snapping it off the one-point harness. With a snarl of rage, I lifted my rifle high and took aim at his face. But Sean slammed into me, knocking me off of him, before I could smash it into his lying face.
"We don't abuse prisoners," Sean shouted in my face.
"But – "
"But nothing!"
"Doesn't matter," Brett said. "He's dead now."
I shoved Sean off, and jumped to my feet. I was so mad. I know his last words were just a taunt to hurt me. At least, I prayed they were.
"Mike and Charlie, follow those soldiers and make sure they don't stop until they reach the river," Sean said.
"You betcha, boss," Mike said, and they took off.
I watched them go through narrowed eyes. My whole body was shaking like a leaf. His last words echoed in my head. I fought the building rage. Going crazy wouldn't help me or Jenny. I had to remain level-headed, but it was so damned hard.
Sean and the others kept a wary eye on me as they checked to ensure everyone was dead who should be dead. They didn't find any other survivors.
"I love it when a plan comes together," Sean said. His expression wasn't as pleased as his words. He looked at all of the bloody bodies before us. Sean looked as sick as I felt. "I can't believe we've been reduced to fighting Army soldiers."
"They stopped being US Army when they went rogue," I said through clenched teeth. Still, my stomach was churning. It was embarrassing and distressing to fight fellow soldiers. Yet, they were committing war crimes, too. One of those crimes was kidnapping our women and children. "They've turned into a bunch of fucking savages."
"Gather up their weapons and ammo," Sean said. "Search the bodies, too. Take anything and everything we can use."
"What about the bodies?" Fred asked. "Shouldn't we bury them or something?"
"No," I said. "I'm pretty sure they'll send someone over tomorrow to collect the bodies." I looked at Sean, "So that means we better find a safer place to hole up until then."