by Lundy, W. J.
Sean moved his chair so that he sat closer to them. “Thomas, what do you know about them?”
“The infected? Not much, the news called it rabies or a virus, but you already know that, your man Brooks explained where you all came from, and how you got here.”
“More than that,” Sean said, “when did they get so slow?”
“Yeah, Dad’s been watching them. They seem to be changing. Some of ‘em started moving real slow as the weather turned cold, and others don’t seem to be so much bothered by it. Dad thinks maybe it’s the freeze, or maybe it’s how they feed, maybe the slow ones are starving.”
“Have you heard anything about smart ones?” Sean asked.
“What? No, I heard about what happened on the oil rig. But no, we ain’t seen that. But we stay out here hidden. I can’t say they aren’t smart ones but we haven’t seen them.”
“Well I don’t want to burst your bubble kid, but there are smart ones here. We have put a few of them down since we landed on your island,” Hahn said.
Parker got to his feet and stirred the contents of a pot resting atop the stove. “Yup it’s done,” he said, lightening the mood. Quickly, bowls full of the hot stew were passed around. Someone had cut up the rest of the bread and added it to their plates.
“Eat up tonight, gentlemen, I have a feeling tomorrow will be a long day,” Sean said.
10.
Brad woke to a bright light shining in his face. He turned his head and shielded his eyes. “It’s your watch, Sergeant,” he heard Parker whisper.
Brad grunted as he looked at the glowing dial on his wrist. “It’s already 4 a.m.?”
“Yup, you awake? I want to grab a couple more hours before the sun comes up,” Parker whispered.
“Yeah I’m awake, you are relieved,” Brad said as he sat up. He had taken a spot on the floor next to the stove. With the fire going and the temperature more bearable, the men had spread out in the cabin. Brad slowly got to his feet and sat in a chair while he pulled on his boots. He could hear the creaking up in the attic. He knew it would be Hahn. They were still pulling two man, hour-long shifts, but they alternated the start times by thirty minutes to keep them sharp. At the top of each man’s watch, a new man would be rotated in.
Brad moved towards the kitchen area and poured himself a glass of water from a pitcher sitting on the counter. He quietly walked towards one of the front windows and moved the cloth away from the spy hole so that he could see outside. The moon was still nearly full and reflected brightly off of the snow. Brad checked the view in front of the house. He waited patiently for several minutes watching for movement. Observing nothing, he moved to the back of the house and looked through the window that overlooked the pond, again finding nothing.
Brad continued rotating between the front and back of the house. He looked at his watch and saw that enough time had passed that he should relieve Hahn in the attic. Brad went to the ladder and climbed up and into the space above. He found Hahn sitting cross-legged and looking out of the vent. Brad quietly crawled towards him, careful to keep his weight on the beams. Hahn looked back at him as he got closer.
“Anything?” Brad whispered.
“Saw a nice moose earlier,” Hahn answered.
“Moose? No shit.”
“Yeah, out there moving towards the pond. That’s gotta be a good sign, I figure moose wouldn’t hang around if primals were out there.”
“Good point,” Brad said, straining to look out of the vent.
“What are you going to do tomorrow, Brad?” Hahn asked.
“You mean about Kelli?” Brad responded.
“Yeah. I get where Chief is going, but I wouldn’t feel right not making the run for her.”
“I know. Chief is a tough one to figure out. I can’t tell if he is trying to talk us out of it, or just making sure we understand the risks.”
“Shit Brad, everything we do out here is a risk … Did you know we talked Kelli into joining Charlie Group? She had it made out in the fleet,” Hahn asked.
“Gunner told us he brought her on because she could fly. And because she is also one hell of a shot,” Brad replied.
“Yeah, girl flew transports. But most of the big birds were grounded. There wasn’t much work for her. And being an officer and all, she was on full time sham duty. Gunner found out about her one day during one of the briefs. He’s the one who got her assigned to us.”
“She’s handy with that rifle. Too bad she ain’t here with us now,” Brad said.
“She is one of us Brad, remember that. I’d go back for you, this is the same thing.”
“I know that, she has proven that to all of us; she handled herself well on the flights here,” Brad said.
“See Brad, you ain’t getting it. Gunner went and drafted her into Charlie Group. If it wasn’t for Gunner, she would be sitting pretty back there on that island. I feel we are responsible for her now. Regardless of how the vote goes, I’ll be going after those drugs,” Hahn said before getting up and crawling down the ladder.
Brad sat there alone, quietly watching out the vent, looking across the snow-covered field and into the trees. The sky was beginning to grey; dawn would be coming soon. He could hear Hahn moving around below. He heard him wake Sean to relieve him from his shift. After a while Sean climbed the ladder and moved into position next to Brad.
Sean leaned forward and looked through the vent. “Anything to turn over?” he whispered.
“No, it’s been quiet. Hahn said he saw a moose.”
“Really, a moose? Hmm, wonder if they are good eating, might have to ask Thomas about that.”
“Chief … about Kelli.”
“Save it Brad, there will be time enough for that in the morning. Why don’t you let Joey sleep in, I’ll cover the end of the watch,” Sean said in a serious voice.
Brad nodded and turned to make his way down the ladder. When he reached the bottom he walked towards the bunks and grabbed his bag. He separated his assault pack from the back of his ruck and started moving gear around, putting things in the bag he thought he might need for his trip into the village. He had already decided he would be going on the mission.
He knew they would be moving fast and would want to travel light. He grabbed his stack of MRE entrees and put them in the bottom of the bag. He added the boxes of 9mm rounds and all of the 5.56mm he had left, along with the rest of his spare magazines. He stuffed in his poncho liner, several dry T-shirts and pairs of socks along with most of his first aid kit. The rest of his essentials would be worn on his gear.
Brad zipped and closed the pouches on his assault pack and the rucksack and placed them back by the bunks. He added more wood to the fire and placed a fresh pot of water on top of the stove. The sun was breaking the horizon now and he could see the light begin to filter in through the vents in the attic. Brad moved into the kitchen and opened cans of hash and dumped them into a skillet. Joey heard the noise and jumped out of the bed. He looked at his watch. “Damn man, why didn’t you wake me, I was supposed to relieve Chief!” Joey said agitatedly as he quickly dressed and put on his boots.
“Don’t sweat it Joey, you had the last watch. Chief will be fine,” Brad said.
“Man I hope so, I don’t want to be on Chief’s bad side,” Joey said.
“Bro! I said don’t worry about it, why don’t you make yourself useful and take this skillet over to the stove.”
As the hash began to sizzle, the rest of the men started to wake up. Sean came down from the attic and sat at the table. Thomas got up and moved towards the stove. “Looks like you found Uncle Darrin’s stash of corned beef. He does love his hash. We used to eat it for breakfast every time I stayed here,” Thomas said, smiling.
“Where is your uncle now?” Sean asked.
“Oh … not really sure, he doesn’t stay on the rock much anymore. When the fishing dried up he took a job in the oil business. He only comes home a couple times a year now. But he still loves this place. We spend a lot of time here
when he visits.”
“It is a nice spot, I imagine the hunting is good,” Brad said.
“Oh yeah, great hunting, plenty of game about,” Thomas said.
Joey came back to the table with the skillet of sizzling hash. He sat the skillet in the center and the men divided it amongst themselves and scattered about the room to eat. Thomas was still sitting at the table with Brad and Sean; Hahn had pulled up a chair across from them.
“So Thomas, tell me more about this town. The one with the clinic,” Brad asked.
Sean shot Brad a disapproving stare, then grabbed for his glass and took a long drink of water. The tension did not go unnoticed by Thomas who looked away and shied back towards his plate of hash.
“No, it’s okay, Thomas, you can answer the sergeant’s question,” Sean said.
“Sir, the town isn’t much to look at, small place, nowhere near the size of the city on the coast. Used to be a quarry there. But that work is mostly gone now.”
“How many people live … lived there?” Brad asked.
“Ahh, I’m not sure. They have a school, and a nice lake, people go there in the summers on holiday. I had a friend that stayed up that way. He lived in a trailer park outside of town, and I’d say at least a thousand folks lived out that way.”
“But you say there are lots of infected there? That’s what you said yesterday,” Sean asked.
“Yes sir. Dad and I tried to get to the town weeks back, thought maybe the constable would have answers, but we only got a few kilometers from the town center before we started spotting them and we turned back.”
“So if the town is overrun with infected, how do you think we can just get in and out with what we need?” Sean asked.
“Well … Brooks, he said you all were experts at sneaking into places you are not supposed to be. And they be moving slower now. I think if you go in during the daylight you could do it. I’ll go with you Chief, if you are worried,” Thomas said.
Sean smiled and finished the last bite on his plate. He looked up and saw that the others had gathered around the table and were looking at him. Sean drank the rest of his water and refilled his glass from the pitcher. “Hmm … I guess we might as well get this out of the way,” he said.
Sean took the note out of his shirt pocket and opened it up and placed it on the table. “As we all know, Brooks has given us a shopping list. He says without it Kelli may die. This is the sort of thing Charlie Group was known for back in the sand box. So I figure we could possibly make light work of it. But the risks will be high. There is no helicopter to insert or extract us, so we have to go in and out by foot. We have no intel on what’s lurking down there, and we can’t even be sure if this clinic hasn’t already been looted—”
“Now hold on Chief—”Brad started to say before Sean put up his hand to cut him off.
Sean continued, looking at the men around the table. “I will lead a team in by foot. But I need three of you to volunteer to go with me. If we don’t get three then the mission is a scratch. I won’t force any of you, and I won’t look down on you if you elect not to go.”
“I’m in,” Brad said, looking at Sean, surprised that he was offering to lead the trip.
“Shocker,” Sean replied sarcastically before giving Brad a smile.
“Count me in also,” Hahn said.
Sean looked around the room at the rest of them. Parker had moved away from the table and was avoiding them near the stove. Nelson was nervously standing next to him. Joey and Daniel were talking to each other in the far corner.
“I’ll go, I know the place,” Thomas said.
“I’m sure you do, Thomas, but sorry, I won’t be taking you. You and Nelson won’t be going with me. No offense boys, but I need gunfighters.”
Joey moved back to the table with his brother. Daniel stood behind Brad. “We will go, but you have to take both of us. We ain’t splitting up,” Daniel said.
“It’s both of us or none of us,” Joey said.
Sean laughed out loud as he looked around the room. “So I have to cut one of you two, to get these two,” Sean said, looking at Brad and Hahn. “Do you two want to decide amongst yourselves who will drop out? Both of you going isn’t an option, I don’t want to cut the teams this much, someone needs to secure the cabin while we are out.”
Hahn spoke first. “I’m going. Brad, you don’t owe Kelli squat, I’ll go.”
Brad stood and walked to the counter and grabbed a stack of stick matches. “We both owe Kelli for flying us here, even if she did crash,” Brad smiled, “I know neither of us will back down, so let’s draw for it.”
Brad separated two of the matches from the stack and broke one of them in half. He then held them in his fist and asked Hahn to draw. Hahn selected a match and pulled the short one from Brad’s fist. “Damn, you drew the short one, you win, I’m going,” Brad said.
“Wait, now that’s bullshit, the short stick goes,” Hahn argued.
“Hahn, we drew fair and square. I’m not going to argue about this, I’m going. You are in charge until we get back,” Brad ordered.
Hahn threw his piece of the match down onto the table and stomped off towards the bunks, cussing under his breath.
“Chief, when do you want to head out?” Brad asked.
“I think we should get prepped and move within the next hour.”
Brad looked to the Villegases. “Can you all be ready to move?”
“Shit son, we’re always ready,” Daniel answered.
11.
The four-man team gathered around the table. Thomas smoothed out an old topographical map, and roughly drew a route from the cabin and the approaches in and out of the town. The rest of the men were outside preparing the snowmobiles for their trip.
“It’s easy to get there, just follow the road about ten kilometers, it will take you up the main drive. The clinic is at the first and only stoplight,” Thomas said while tracing his finger down the route.
“Well we won’t exactly be rolling down Main Street, Thomas,” Brad said.
Sean smiled “Why not?”
“What?” Joey said, stepping closer.
“I was thinking, what if I send you and your brother racing down Main, make some noise, lots of noise, draw the primals off after you?” Sean said.
Joey looked down at the sketch and watched where Sean was pointing. “Okay, Chief, I’m listening.”
“We will ride together until about two miles out of town. Brad and I can conceal our sled here,” Sean said, pointing to a place where the road curved away from the town. “You two will hold up while we will begin to slip in on foot to a spot on the outskirts of town … hopefully unseen.”
“And us?” Joey asked.
“Yeah … give us some time to move into a nice hide where we can see the streets, two miles through closed terrain … hmm, let’s say two hours max, then you two roll through town hot. Speed in like you own the place, hit the town by surprise. Maybe stop and make sure they pursue you. Once we see them following you and clear out, we will sneak in, do us some quick shoplifting, and then sneak back out,” Sean said.
“Sounds good for you, but what we supposed to do with a town load of crazies after us?” Daniel argued.
Sean looked across at Daniel while pointing at the map. “I’m sure you all will figure it out. But if it was me I’d lead them out of the town. Once you get a good group following, haul ass, break contact, then hide up somewhere till it’s clear to circle back to the cabin. If you move out and north this road should take you away from the town and back here.”
“Not much of a plan, but I like it,” Daniel grinned.
“The sleds are topped off with fuel. Thomas says that will give us about a hundred miles. You should be prepped to hide out for a day, maybe two. Just make sure you don’t lead them back here,” Sean said. “Brad, same with us, make sure you have gear for at least two days, seems simple enough, but the simple ops are typically the most fucked up.”
Sean looked down a
t the map again before folding up the note and placing it in his pocket. “Once again, this is all volunteer, but once we hit the trail consider yourselves fully committed to this. We will all be counting on each other to succeed.”
***
They were outside the cabin. Thomas had both sleds up and running; the men were sitting double on each. The Villegases had taken the newer sport model, while Sean and Brad had the older snowmobile. Thomas had gone over the controls and given them a quick rundown on how to keep them running.
Brad had more experience with snowmobiles, living in the north, so he got the driver’s seat. After brief goodbyes, Brad squeezed the throttle and the snowmobile jetted forward and away from the shed. He checked his rear view mirror and saw that the Villegases were close behind them. He rode alongside the rutted driveway sticking to the field of snow-covered grass until they hit the gate.
Brad slowed the sled and pulled up just short of the downed pole. Quickly Danny and Sean jumped from the back of the sleds and removed the barricade, allowing the snowmobiles to pass through. Quickly they replaced the barrier and jumped back on. Brad again hit the throttle and they were off at high speed down the gravel road.
They wanted to move fast and avoid staying in one spot for too long, to avoid drawing attention to the location of the cabin. Brad took lead and kept the sled at near full throttle, which was only half that of the newer model behind him. He plowed through high snow drifts and around downed trees and other obstacles that tended to occur when road maintenance stops. Brad could feel the chill on his face and the cold air biting against his neck and forehead.
They had taken the thermals and flannels that Thomas had brought with him, but it still was not the correct gear for a winter snowmobile trip. Brad continued to race down the road until he spotted a landmark that Thomas had mentioned to them: a large wooden sign notating the direction to a national forest. Thomas had said the sign would be close to the entrance into the town.
As they drew closer they began to spot homes on both sides of the road. Some were burnt down or had broken windows. Others were shuttered with no signs of life, as if the owners had left them and would one day return. There were cars in driveways covered with large drifts of snow. Brad knew he was close to the town now, close to the planned stop. He passed a large brown ranch house with boarded-up and shuttered windows. As he cleared the empty driveway, he eased off the throttle and pulled the sled off the side of the road and into some heavy brush.