by Gary Hickman
“Copy that.” Webb relayed that to the rest of the team as the compound’s helipad came into view. The rest of the compound was underground, so they could not see it. Doug circled and set down when Allison started talking to someone.
She came back on internal comms. “Priest just checked in, they have the virus and a prisoner for interrogation. They are in an SUV making their way down Rt. 95 and just passed Wilmington DE. He said if you want the virus quicker, then you must come get it.”
“Tell him to keep driving and we will head out as soon as we deliver the doctor.”
“Copy.” A few minutes later the Pave Hawk had landed as was winding down. There were a couple CDC scientists along with four armed guards from the US Army. The one scientist was a tall, lanky man with light brown hair, graying on the sides. He had squinty eyes and wore rimless glasses. A short Asian woman with shoulder length black hair, round face and rosy cheeks accompanied him. She was a little overweight and walked with a slight waddle. They met Dr. Costa with enthusiasm.
“Hello, hello. I am Dr. Caulfield and this is my colleague, Dr. Choi.”
She spoke up excitedly, “We are happy to be working with you, Dr. Costa.” She talked as if there wasn’t an apocalypse going on.
“I am happy to meet you both and I am excited work with you and see what progress you have made.”
Dr. Caulfield responded, “Excellent. We will show you to your quarters and then head to the main lab.”
“Sounds great.” They walked off, but Izzy turned and looked at Webb.
“We’ll be back with the virus samples.”
She had a concerned look on her face, but nodded and continued into the underground compound.
Webb ran back to the chopper. “Ok, Doug. Let’s go get our boys.” “Copy that, Captain.”
Priest had dozed off and woke up with a jostling. He shot up, drawing his pistol.
“Yo, take it easy, Sarge.” Shaw’s voice said.
Priest looked over at Shaw, “Shit, sorry. What’s going on?”
“No problem. We all go 0 to 60 from time to time, it’s an issue, though. We’re coming up on the bridge to make it across the Susquehanna and from what we can see through the binos, ain’t nobody getting through there. They have it blocked.”
Priest looks to see the bridge blocked by some jersey barriers and military vehicles. There were a couple police cars parked closer, between them and the barrier. “Shit. These wackos didn’t build those barriers, those are regulation. By the looks of the surrounding condition, I would assume this was a checkpoint to stem the flow of infected and keep them from crossing the river.”
He lowered the binos. “Damn, trying to plow through there would be stupid. We don’t have a map and with GPS down, we are blind. Shaw hand me that radio.” Shaw reached in and pulled out the pack they had brought from Campbell with the radio.
“Spider, this is Father. Do you copy?” Priest waited and nothing. He repeated it and waited.
“Father, this is Spider, go ahead.”
“What is your ETA to our location? We are just north of the Susquehanna River on Rt. 95. We are near the town of Perryville. Over.”
“Wait one… ah, give us 15 mics on that.”
“15 mic’s, good copy.”
Priest stows the radio and then Shaw pipes up, “Sarge, it looks like the police cars are pulling out and coming this way.”
“Ok, set up a defensive line and take those two assholes out.” Shaw stopped the SUV, and the Team exited to set up a defensive firing line. As soon as the two police cars pulled out an enormous horde of infected rushed through the barrier and followed the cop cars toward the Team.
“Shit, everyone back in the SUV, we don’t have enough ammo to fight that entire crowd.” They all jumped in and took off north, heading away from the bridge. Up ahead at the next exit they could see movement coming towards them from the east, “Fuck me sideways. There is a large horde coming from the road on the right. He looked over and saw them cross the railroad bridge and then swarming the road and the intersection. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Priest yelled. “Ok Doc, you come up here and drive. I want Shaw hanging that M48 out the window and trying to buy us some time. They are coming over that railroad bridge. How did they know we were even here, much less key on us that quick? Did they hear us, smell us, see us? What?” They drove north a little way until they saw a country road to the left.
Doc drifted sideways on the road and straightened as Priest was looking at him. “What? I did a little street racing back in the day.” Priest returned his eyes forward and shook his head.
“Shaw, throw that ruck up here.” Shaw dropped the radio ruck up front.
“Spider, this is Father. Do you copy?”
He received an instant reply, “Go ahead, Father.”
“We are on the move with a shitload of infected climbing up our ass. They had the bridge barricaded, and another mass came at us from a parallel railroad bridge. We are heading west on a country road parallel to the river. We are spitting up a cloud of dust, so it should be easy to track our location.”
“Copy that. We are flying over the river now.”
Shaw yelled from the back seat, “Sarge, the police cars are almost on us. Time to introduce them to Jimi Hendrix.” Lia looked over quizzically. Shaw patted his M48. “Jimi Hendrix, cause he rocks like a motherfucker!” She just grinned.
Shaw leaned out the back window and began sending rounds toward the lead police car. Even with the dust and dirt flying around, he could see the wild eyes and erratic movements of the infected inside the car. Their faces were visible until his rounds entered the windshield and tore the two occupants to shreds. The police car careened off the road and went nose first into the ditch, while the second police swerved to avoid the first car and continued the chase.
The ISIS prisoner freaked out and thrash around. “Why are these police trying to kill us? This is not right.”
Lia gave him a hammer fist to the nose, breaking it. He screamed a high pitch scream and tears streamed from his eyes. “They aren’t cops, there’re infected. This is what you fuck heads unleashed on the world.” She was visibly disgusted by having to speak to the prisoner. “How does your precious Allah feel about you killing other Muslims, huh? The caliphate is to eradicate the infidels, but you assholes eradicated the entire world population.” The man’s eyes were wide as he started praying in Arabic.
Shaw looked over at him, “Ain’t gonna help you now, jackass.” The man had his eyes closed and was continuing to pray. Shaw was about to aim his M48 out the window when rounds rained down from the sky, shredding the police car in seconds. The rounds stopped as the helicopter flew overhead. Shaw looked back to see the police car stopped in the middle of the road with two bodies slumped in the front seat.
“Father, this is Spider. Do you copy?”
“Affirmative.”
“Half a mile up the road from your position, there is a field off to your right. Regroup there for exfil.”
“Copy that.”
Minutes later they all met up in the field. Allison, still in the co-polit’s seat, saw Shaw and waved at him excitedly. He returned her wave with a look of admiration. They threw the ISIS prisoner in the chopper and Priest noticed his broken nose. He looked at Lia and she gave him her innocent look and shrugged her shoulders. Priest chuckled and got on the chopper as they lifted off for Maryland.
As they ascended, they got a good look at the coming horde. Thousands had massed around the area; some were crossing the bridge, and some were standing there like they didn’t know what to do.
“Damn, look at all of them,” Doc uttered. “It’s out of control and no way to turn the tide.”
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br /> “There’s a way. There’s got to be or we should just give up right now. Just nose dive this son of a bitch right into a bank along the river.” Priest looked over at Lia and she was staring out the open door.
Priest turned back to Doc, “I’m not ready to die just yet.” Doc raised his eyebrows looking from Priest to Lia. Priest lightly slapped Doc on the side of the head and put his finger to his lips in a shhh sign.
The Team had made their way down the Eastern Bay and were over Baltimore. “Captain,” Allison came over the internal comms. They patched Webb and Priest in.
“Go ahead,” Webb replied.
“We received a message from the CDC compound, but was cut off. I only got “We are being” and then it cut off. I haven’t been able to raise anyone else since.”
“Ok, there could be trouble brewing over there. Doug, get us there ASAP.”
“Copy that.” Doug cranked the RPM’s and increased their speed, heading for the CDC compound.
CHAPTER 27
As the chopper approached the CDC compound, they could see plumes of smoke rose over the trees. “Shit, that doesn’t look good.” Webb was staring at the smoke rising and he had a sinking feeling. He didn’t know if the place had been overrun or just one of those issues with someone not divulging that they might be infected.
It was sometimes hard to test people who had the virus before they turned. That, added with the basic need for human survival, often caused people to hide information on whether they were exposed. So many people had been affected felt perfectly fine, but that changed quickly and then they would have a serious problem on their hands.
People wanted to give others the benefit of the doubt, and it was that kind of thinking that had gotten so many people killed over the last few weeks. They flew over the last of the trees, which now gave them an excellent view of the compound area. It was a site they had witnessed too many times recently.
The military and civilian vehicles parked near the compound entrance had suffered incredible damage. Destroyed and on fire, the smoke everyone could see from miles away. There were a few bodies lying around and the door into the underground compound was wide open.
“Ok team, full battle rattle. Watch your lanes and keep your head on a swivel,” Priest barked. The chopper touched down, and the team exited and immediately went to one knee to provide 360-degree security.
Webb spoke into his comms, “Doug, keep the bird hot in case we need to exfil quickly. Allison, close all doors and provide a watch for any infected. You see the infected, you let Doug know, and you guys lift off. We will come up with an exfil contingency plan if it comes to that.”
Priest surveyed the scene, “Shaw and me first, then Neville, Shin, Lia, Doc and Webb will cover our six. The Team drifted to the entrance. There were definite signs of a battle here. The strange thing was that the signs of battle were from outside - in and inside - out. “Captain, signs point to soldiers outside wanting in and soldiers trying to keep said soldiers out,” Priest articulated in slight confusion.
“So, we may deal with infected solders who might still know how to fight?”
Priest nodded his head, “Looks that way, Sir.”
“Fuck, now we have to fight our own?” A black cloud descended on the group and an all familiar seriousness hit the team. The seriousness produced a feeling of trepidation and regret. Since this complete shit storm started, the killing of citizens and soldiers of their own hadn’t sat well with the Team.
Being a soldier meant always dealing with competing feelings and the best could compartmentalize them. They each had their own box, which you could open or close when you felt you could deal with it. There was almost a collective deep breath before the Team entered the underground compound.
The Team entered through a corridor that had staggered entry doors. One door stayed closed, while the other opened. This way someone didn’t have entry all the way into the building, but of these doors were now wide open and blood was smeared all over the walls. Pools of blood lay chaotically throughout.
The smell of cordite from spent rounds along with body waste and offal was nauseating. Everyone pulled their baklavas up over their noses. The sounds of electricity shorting out along with the haze of smoke hanging in the air gave the environment one of anxiety and heaviness.
The Team made their way out of the corridor into a larger hall. Priest broke out to the right of Shaw while the rest of the team filed in behind the two. This hall was like the previous one with revolting signs of battle, massacre and inhumane violence. Human heads with their spines still attached were hanging on the wall like a trophy displayed. Their faces frozen in a state of fear. Forever a reminder of how horrific their last moments had been.
“Jesus Christ,” Shaw whispered. “They aren’t just killing or infecting, they are mutilating in an almost ritualistic way. When did they turn the corner into this kind of shit?”
Priest turned to him, “Yeah, I’m not getting this. They said the virus increases the rage and violence while subduing compassion and sympathy. So, where the hell is this mutilating ritual type behavior coming from? We have heard nothing involving this kind of stuff.”
Suddenly, a scream came from inside the compound. “Ok, swift but smart. Let’s find out who is left alive here.” Priest turned to the team. They took off at a fast duck walk, covering doorways as they progressed farther into the building. They passed a small lunchroom, two offices, and came to an elevator with stairs to the right going down. Priest made a cut sign and pointed to the elevator and motioned toward the stairs. The screams came again, but much louder this time.
The team then moved to the second landing and noticed the door to this floor was open and damaged. They could see down the long dark hallway with multiple doors on each side. Some doors were open, and some were closed. They broke most of the lights down the hallway, which created eerie shadows that danced and moved, creating a surreal view. At the end of the hallway was an open door.
The room on the other side was also dimly lit, and a figure appeared with his back to them in the doorway. He was naked except for a pair of ACU pants, and his back had multiple deep lacerations going down it. He also had some strange hat on with a tail coming down his back and was dancing around with some items in his hands. As he rotated, he spied the team at the end of the hall, cocked his head to the side and stared at them.
A large unnerving smile spread across his face and he spoke to them in a husky voice, “I see you. I see you, yes. Yes, you could be brothers, but no poison. You need the poison to truly be brothers.” He started toward the team. “Brothers, brothers come. I know you wish to be one with us. Yes?” As he came closer, the team finally realized what the hat was. It was the skin stripped off of a young woman’s head and face, which he had on his head like some kind of animal pelt. The tail was her hair, braided down his back. There were bones from the spine braided in with it. He also had a severed arm in each hand that he was swinging around.
“That is some fucked up shit,” Doc uttered.
The infected man stopped and cocked his head again, but his demeanor changed to one of sadness. “You-you don’t want the poison? You don’t want to join your brothers? You are not here to join us?” Not waiting for an answer, his face changed from sadness to one of insidious rage. He yelled and launched himself toward the Team. He was foaming at the mouth as he screamed and ran toward the group.
Priest pulled his Walther PPQ and put a .45 round right in the infected forehead. That brought the world down around them as infected started pouring out of the same doorway the man had just came out of.
Webb and Doc rotated to cover their backs in case any came up or down the stairwell. Priest and Shaw took a knee while Lia and Shin stayed standing. Neville joined Webb a
nd Doc, protecting the rear.
Shaw began dropping infected left and right as his M48 was dealing out some serious devastation. Bodies shredded, limbs torn off, and heads exploded. The hall was awash with blood, guts, bone fragments, brain matter and bodily fluids. Everything you need for a nice slaughter soup. Priest added to the bodies stacking up in the hallway.
“Reloading,” Shaw yelled. Neville swung around to help with the oncoming infected. The dozens were slowing down to a trickle.
Priest ended this while clearing some bodies. “Grenade,” he yelled. Everyone squatted down for cover. Priest pulled the trigger on his M203 and Foomp! The grenade launched into the doorway. Priest got down just in time as the explosion rocked the building and debris rained down all over the Team.
“Let’s move,” Priest urged. A substance covered the hallway which could only be described as “human paste”. Shaw turned the corner through the doorway and came out into a lab space. The lab showed signs of killing and mutilation. Blood smears and handprints which couldn’t have come from the grenade explosion, along with human remains littered the lab floor and counters.
Webb pondered as he looked around, “What makes them kill as opposed to just try to spread the virus? How do they decide who gets infected and who is slaughtered? There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to how they select.”
“Not sure, but when they choose to kill, it’s not a clean, quick death,” Priest responded. Looking around, Priest could see Shin visibly shaken.
Shin was a Buddhist, and everything could be explained through enlightenment. Things were evil or divine. Even those things that are evil have a certain amount of humanity in them. Shin was trying to find the sense in what he was seeing, but he couldn’t find meaning or purpose for what was going on. His faith was being stretched to the breaking point, so he kept trying to use meditation to center himself. To ground his thinking in order to wade through all the pain and destruction. To find a place of peace and renewal. He didn’t know how much longer he could go on without bringing his being to focus.