by J. D. Demers
I caught some throw up in my mouth as I started to realize that I had actually killed the motorcycle jacket man.
“Trust me,” Fish continued, “I did him a favor.”
He shook his head as he turned our truck south, following DJ and Jenna.
I sat there in silence. He was probably right. God knows he knew more about shooting people than I did. Fish just saved him a few hours of misery. I sat there and wallowed in self-pity.
We were following close behind DJ with Jenna in the lead. I was sure there was more to the story of what had just happened. DJ was pissed more at Chad than the guy I shot.
“Why are we following them? I thought you didn’t want to get that close to these people,” I asked.
“They know where we live, I think it would be good to know where they are, and that they know we know,” he said. He seemed just as content as I was to change the subject.
I could clearly see DJ talking into his radio as he was driving. They were speeding up. Movement in the bed of the big man’s truck caught my eye as we followed them over a bridge crossing the Interstate.
At first, I thought Jared’s body was being jolted around because of DJ’s erratic driving, but then I saw Jared’s hand reach over and grasp the side of the truck. It seemed like he was trying to sit up. His head was bouncing around loosely with each bump and jolt as the truck continued to the top of the bridge, but he was definitely moving of his own accord.
Fish noticed, too.
“Stallion Two,” Fish yelled into the radio, “you have a problem!”
“This is Jenna,” the radio chimed back. “We have the radio.”
Fish cursed. “Stable, this is Dog One, come in!”
No answer. Stable could talk to DJ through the truck mounted CB. Well, they could have if they were listening.
“What’s going on?” Jenna called back.
“Jenna,” Fish said as calm as he could, “DJ needs to stop his truck now! He’s got a Zulu in the bed. Whatever you do, slow him down and do not let him pass you. Over.”
“A Zulu?” she sounded confused. Of course, Jenna was never in the military. Zulu was part of the phonetic alphabet the military used for ‘Z’. ‘Zombie’ equals ‘Z’ which equals ‘Zulu’.
“What the hell is a ‘Zulu’?” It was Chad on the radio now.
“It’s a fucking dead-head, dumbass!” Fish shouted back into the mike, using their lingo for zombies.
“Oh shit,” he chimed back.
It appeared the trucks started playing a game. Jenna was slowing down playing road block, while DJ was trying to race to pass her.
“Why don’t you tell them it’s Jared?” I asked.
“I don’t feel like trying to explain what I don’t understand,” Fish said. “DJ isn’t dumb enough to put a dead body that was bitten in the back of his truck.”
“If he wasn’t bitten…” I trailed off. Jesus Christ, I thought to myself.
“Get your Glock out,” he commanded me as he tried to drive up next to DJ’s truck. “If Jared gets loose inside their camp, he could bite someone before we can stop him… it,” he added, not wanting to associate the living with the dead.
I put down the window and pointed my gun toward Jared as we finally were able to get along side of the other truck. DJ saw me in his side view mirror. Who knew what was going on in his head? He probably thought we were trying at shoot at him.
The big man slammed on his breaks. Fish seemed to be ready for that, and matched him. I saw DJ shake his head in frustration. Fish cut in front of his truck, blocking him as we came to a stop.
“Go!” Fish commanded and both of us leaped out of the truck. The big man was opening his door as I passed by.
“What the fu-” I cut him off as I kicked the big man’s door shut. Jared was almost on top of the cab. He was still a good three or four feet away because of the large crew cab, but I wasn’t going to take any chances of him jumping on DJ’s back as he exited.
I raised my Glock and squeezed off a shot, hitting Jared in the jaw and spinning his head to the left. But it wasn’t enough to stop him. Running and shooting was something I definitely needed to work on, especially with a big can on the front of my barrel. I fired two more times, one shot completely missed, and the other took off his ear.
Just as zombie Jared got to his feet, his head lurched to the side. Flesh and blood sprayed the side of DJ’s truck as zombie Jared collapsed to the ground. Fish had jumped on the back wheel well of our diesel, and was still aiming over the bed of our truck when I looked to see where the shot had come from.
The big man finally exited the vehicle, and looked down at Jared. He took a second to process what had happened and seemed to understand. Jenna ran up to the scene and was shocked at the sight of her recently deceased friend lying on the ground with several gunshots to his face.
DJ seemed frantic and pushed aside what had just happened.
“Move your fucking truck!” he shouted at Fish. We all just stared at him a second, wondering how he could just ignore the significance of what just happened.
“A scab is in the compound! MOVE IT!” DJ commanded, as he got back into his truck and revved the engine.
Fish jumped in our vehicle and backed up before I made it to the door. DJ gunned it, passing Jenna just as she got into her truck to follow.
“Are we still going with them?” I asked as I closed my door.
He turned and eyed me. “Sure you haven’t had enough for the day, kid?”
“I’ve had enough for a lifetime,” I said, feeling tired and worn. My adrenaline had been up and down all day, and my body couldn’t take much more. “But…” I should have stopped before my ‘but’ got me into more trouble.
“Alright,” he said, “Let’s do this.” I was pretty sure he was mocking me from earlier that day.
We were a little ways behind them, but their compound wasn’t that far away. There wasn’t much in the way of houses or anything off the main road except a church and a small gas station. The houses weren’t far away, just a little to the west, but there was thick vegetation blocking them with the occasional poorly made side road leading in their direction. There wasn’t much to the east except thick brush and trees. I was happy to note that very little green had been eaten off the trees. That had to be a good sign.
We pulled up to an Ace Hardware just as Jenna’s truck entered the gate. I knew there was a second one on this side of the city, but unlike the one I met Fish in, this one was a standalone building. It seemed like a good location. It was just outside of the main part of the city. Close enough to do scavenging runs, yet far enough away to avoid the hordes of zombies Fish and I saw at the Kmart Plaza.
Just before the store and to the north was a burned down church. Only about a quarter of the building remained standing. Other than that, there were mostly wooded areas surrounding the location.
There was chain link fence that had been reinforced all the way around Ace Hardware. On the south side was a rather large, pink plastic flamingo as tall as a house. Taller wooden panels of privacy fence and plywood were wired to the original fence which increased the height of their perimeter. The front gate, which was something they added on after they confiscated the area, was a combination of four-by-fours and metal fencing. It was definitely scrapped together in a hurry, but all in all, wasn’t too shabby.
I could see the windmills Jared had told me about. They were off to the left and rear of the building. I could only count four but there could have been more out of view. Near the wind generators were two RVs. Both seemed to be in decent condition. Behind all of that was the large cell phone tower Lt. Campbell had mentioned. I could see loosely slung thick, black cables running up the side.
The inside of the compound was a mixture of chaos and order. Some areas were neatly set up while others seemed to be heaps of trash or junk. Two HUMVEEs were parked side by side near the building. One had a large metal box on the back. Those were common for communication HUMVEEs and were l
ike tiny mobile offices. The other was normal with the back open for loading equipment. Boxes and crates were evenly stacked along with tools and other equipment. Further back along the side were gaggles of gear randomly placed and in disarray near a U-Haul. You could easily tell where the military’s equipment was.
We raced in behind Jenna and Fish slammed on the brakes as we came along the side of her truck. Boomer, of course, was excited to be stopping in a new area. Dumb dog.
Behind us, a man dressed in Army fatigues closed the gate and ran our way. DJ was already out of his truck and over talking to a group of people. One of them was Lt Campbell. The rest of them finally joined up and were talking as Fish, Boomer, and I got out of our truck and walked up on their discussion.
“So they’re safe?” DJ asked frantically as we approached in mid conversation.
“All the non-coms are locked up in the U-Haul,” Campbell said, trying to calm him down. “But Kayla is missing. We’re pretty sure we have the bastard trapped inside.” He motioned over to the hardware store.
There was no question who the bastard was. I looked at the group. Daniel was there along with Chad, Jenna, and Preacher. One of the group members was a young black girl, armed with a rifle that I was sure was a .22 long barrel. There was an older man, probably in his sixties that was balding and had a white beard that reminded me a little of Santa Claus, with his large pot belly and red windbreaker. He was holding a semi-automatic pistol. The soldier in fatigues wore the rank of Private First Class with the name ‘Trent’ and couldn’t have been over twenty years old.
“If it got Kayla, then she must be-” the young black girl said dreadfully, but was cut off by Campbell.
“Don’t assume, Jada,” he said, in a harsh but hopeful tone. “We go with what we know. If Kayla is in there, she might be hiding from it.”
“The Lieutenant is right,” Preacher told the young woman. “The Almighty wouldn’t have put Kayla in danger unless he had his reasons.” I noticed Fish rolled his eyes. I hoped others didn’t see that.
Santa Claus made a rude comment under his breath that I guessed was directed at Preacher.
“Right, Preacher,” the Lieutenant said, though he did not sound all that confident.
One by one, the people we hadn’t met yet turned their eyes to us. Campbell took notice and motioned in our direction.
“This is Fish and Christian. The ones we told you about,” the Lieutenant said, motioning us closer. “Are you here to help?”
“Depends on your plan, LT,” Fish answered. He wasn’t trying to sound like a dick, but it still came out that way.
Campbell grimaced. It was then that I knew this man didn’t really have a lot of experience. He may have had everyone there outranked, but the guy probably hadn’t even made it to a deployment overseas. Sure, he had tactical training in leading men into combat like all officers, but that was training. Reality was different. Even a pogue like me knew that. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of good officers in the military, but this guy seemed a little green.
I heard plenty of stories from soldiers coming back from ‘outside the wire’ as they liked to say. Either Lieutenants were smart and took the advice of their platoon sergeants, or they were idiots on power trips. I was about to see what type of Lieutenant this Campbell was.
The officer looked around at the people that surrounded him and focused on DJ. There was some silent communication between the two of them. I’m not sure if everyone noticed, because it was pretty subtle, but I caught it. Campbell was asking him a question, and DJ answered with a slight nod in Fish’s direction.
Campbell seemed to work out something in his head, and then turned to Fish.
“Master Sergeant, you have the expertise in these types of situations. I would welcome any tactical advice you could give us.” I knew Campbell wasn’t stupid. Not just because he asked for Fish’s advice, but there was something in the way he asked. It showed good leadership to his men, yet at the same time, put Fish on the spot and took away some of the responsibility from the LT. That is, if Fish agreed.
Fish stepped to the side and examined the building.
“How many exits?” he asked anyone who would answer.
“Three,” the man I referred to as Santa Claus answered. “We blocked a fourth one off a couple of weeks ago.”
“Roof access?” Fish continued.
“Only by a ladder on the outside,” Campbell said. “Gardner is up there now. All exits are being guarded by the rest of our shooters. Two on each.”
I could see two soldiers who I later learned were Private First Class (or PFC) Vanerka and Private Manns near the front door. They were about twenty feet back from the glass. That should have been a good enough distance to shoot the scab if it made a break for it. I imagined the other exits were guarded in a similar fashion.
I could see Fish was thinking about the situation. His brow furrowed as he gazed around the group of survivors.
“Has anyone here killed a scab yet?” he asked.
Only Santa Claus spoke up. “I shot at one once. Not sure if I hit the SOB, though. It was fast.”
“Yeah,” Fish mumbled. I don’t think he was agreeing with Santa Claus, but was expressing his disappointment in this group’s lack of experience.
“Alright, I need two volunteers to join me and the kid here to clear that place out.” At first, I wasn’t sure that he was referring to me, until everyone looked in my direction. Before anyone spoke up, or before I could protest, Fish continued, “and those two volunteers are DJ and Daniel.”
Chapter 18
The Wolf, the Raiders and the Predator
April 19th Late Afternoon
“Can I talk to you a minute?” I asked Fish, glaring at him.
He nodded as if he knew I was going to ask. We walked about halfway to our truck with Boomer close in tow, as if the canine had something to add as well. I could hear the group start to talk in low voices as we made it out of earshot. They didn’t want us to hear them either.
“I’m not trying to sound like a coward or anything, but there are six soldiers over there. Don’t you think they would be better suited?” I asked.
“You were a soldier too,” he pointed out.
“Sure, years ago!” I returned.
“Look, kid,” he said, “you’ve actually fought a scab before. Did you happen to notice the crest on Campbell’s collar?”
I shook my head no.
“Army Intelligence. Those boys over there don’t know shit. Your ass has seen more than they have.” It was a very logical argument on his part. I, however, did not care.
“I may have fought a scab, but she whipped my ass, remember?” I started to sound like a chicken pleading my case.
“Kid, it’s not you that I want with me,” he said, eyeing Boomer, who was standing next to me.
“You want to take my dog?” I asked, a little pissed. I couldn’t believe the nerve of him, especially after what happened at the store earlier that day.
“Yep,” Fish responded. “Your mutt won’t go with me, especially after I tossed him out of the truck. I need you with us to control him and track the bastard down. You know his tells and the dumb dog listens to you.”
So, I was not really part of the plan, Boomer was. He wanted to put him in the line of fire… again, and me along with him. For some reason, that offended me, but that was nothing new coming from Fish.
It made perfect sense, of course. Boomer was great at sensing zombies and scabs, and I knew the way he acted around both of them. But that didn’t mean I wanted to storm Ace Hardware looking for one.
I started to think about the girl they talked about. If there was a chance she was still alive, we could save her. I was scared, but I remembered one thing, I was with Fish. I guess if I was ever going to do something this stupid, it was best to have him with me. I was still confused on why he wanted DJ and Daniel, though.
“Why DJ and Daniel?” I asked. “DJ is a little out of shape to be running
around in there, and Daniel… well, he’s their medic. If he were to get hurt…”
“DJ was a Marine. Even if he’s never seen combat, he’s better trained than those pogues,” Fish said, jabbing his thumb in Campbell’s direction. “And he’s big. Remember, scabs will fight you hand to hand, and they’re as strong as bulls. He can handle himself.”
“And Daniel?” I asked.
“Did you notice that the scab we fought didn’t try to bite you? I know she chomped on Judy, but I’m assuming they like their meals dead, or close to it. If it hurts one of us, it will be nice to have someone around who can patch us up.”
“And that girl, Kayla,” I reminded him. “If she’s hurt, Daniel can be there for her.”
“Yeah…” Fish said dryly as he looked away from me. “Come on.”
We started walking back over but were met by Campbell and DJ before we made it to the rest of the group.
“Mind if I ask your plan?” Campbell inquired. I knew why he walked out of hearing range of his group and came over to us. He didn’t want to seem weak in front of his people, and just in case he and Fish disagreed on anything, it would be kept between them.
“Simple,” Fish answered, “we go in there and clear the place.” Fish had a talent for frustrating people by talking down to them. At least I knew I wasn’t the only one.
“I get that,” Campbell said irritably, “but just the four of you? That’s insane. Why don’t you take some of my men and leave Daniel out here. I can put a team together and go through a secondary entrance. There’s no way that scab can handle all of us.”
“Really?” Fish said condescendingly. “I saw a skinny little scab throw Christian around like a rag doll. We shot the bitch twice and she kept moving as if nothing happened. These things are predators. Not the animal kind, but the ‘movie’ kind. They hunt, formulate strategies, and use weapons. They like to get in close and fight hand to hand. The more people we send in there the more of a cluster fuck it will be. We’ll be lucky if we don’t accidently shoot each other as it is.”