by Gary Hickman
Everyone was back in their cars and Shaw was ready to speed off. The kids were running straight for them, so Shaw gunned the engine and his face was white with fear and guilt.
“I hate to do this, I really do.” He closed his eyes and stomped the accelerator. The car lunged forward and the sickening sounds of the kid’s heads bouncing off the hood was sickening. Everyone in the car winced with the noise as the sounds of thuds and crunches as the car ran over the little bodies being thrown under the wheels reached their ears.
Shaw was looking straight ahead when they cleared the last of the kids. He was ashen and sweat was rolling down his forehead and it was weird for Priest to see Shaw like this.
With the amount of combatants Shaw had killed over the years while never batting an eye, to see him this shaken, let Priest know how much Shaw loved kids and this had really gotten to him. Hell, it had gotten to them all.
As the brothers they were, the rest knew to leave Shaw alone and let him work this out. Priest just put a reassuring hand on Shaw’s shoulder and that’s all that needed to be said.
They encountered a few more groups of the infected. Those they could go around and those they had to dispatch. They arrived at the dealership, took a few laps around, but with no infected present, they got out.
Shaw and Priest looked for a straightforward way in, while the rest of the team pulled security. None of the doors were open, so Shaw used his expertise as an expert in the fine art of breaching to gain access. Most doors couldn’t resist the Jeremiah Shaw charm and they all opened, eventually. Shaw and Priest cleared the dealership building and went to look for the keys.
Doc’s voice came over the squad comms, “I used to be a car detailer back in the day. The keys are usually in some safe that has a screen on it. You have to put in a car code and a salesman’s code to access the keys. I bet Shin could have those keys in no time…” he trailed off. There was a pause before Doc came back on, “Shit, sorry, guys. I -I,”
Priest cut him off, “It’s ok Doc. We can’t act like Shin never existed. Shit like that is how we keep his memory alive. And yeah, he would have those bastards in a minute.” Priest chuckled. “Big Daddy Shaw will have to go old school on it.”
“Shit yeah,” he replied. A couple minutes later they located something that fit Doc’s description. Shaw backed up and put one .50 cal round in the vault lock and the safe opened. In the safe were multiple rows of keys, which were labeled by make, model and style. Sedans, trucks and SUV’s were all laid out in their respective rows.
There was also a row of keys near the bottom that caught Priest’s eye. The label read “Special Orders” and Priest cocked his head with curiosity. He kneeled down and picked up the key fobs one at a time to read them aloud. “2020 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, Rock Ridge Special Custom.”
Shaw’s eyes got gigantic, “Aw fuck yeah!”
Priest laughed, “I guess that is one specially outfitted vehicle.”
“You bet your ass it is. Four-wheel drive beast!” Shaw said excitedly.
Priest continued to look, and he found another one similar to the first.
“Grab it. Grab it!” Shaw was like a kid in a candy store. He hadn’t seen Shaw this excited in a while. They ran out of the dealership and into the parking lot and walked over to where the Jeeps were parked. Priest pushed a button on the first key fob. A vehicle chirped over to their left and the Team turned as Shaw let out a gasp.
There sat a royal blue 4 door Jeep Wrangler. It had a four-inch lift kit, oversized off-road tires and LED light bars. Huge steel reinforced front and rear bumpers with brush guards were mounted on the front and rear of the Jeep. Steel side steps and armor reinforcement on the rear quarter panels graced each side. A snorkel system was mounted, coming out of the side of the hood. “Fuck yeah!” Shaw shouted. He snatched the key fob from Priest’s hand and took off running for the vehicle.
Webb sauntered up beside Priest. “Shit, what is he, sixteen again?”
Priest laughed, “Looks like it.” He handed the other fob to Webb. “Here you go.”
Webb took the fob and hit the button. A similarly outfitted Jeep chirped, which was a few vehicles down from the first one. Webb tossed the fob to Doc and walked over to the black Jeep that had just chirped. They all piled in to the Jeeps by team and drove around to the parts door.
“Let’s see if there are extra fuel tanks, sky jacks, or anything else helpful to keep these bad boys maintained,” Priest said. They found a few items that would be helpful and took off back to the tower at the airport. They took another route as to not pass the daycare center again. It was too much for the team to take the first time, much less revisit.
As the team made their way back, they turned left onto Braden Street and saw a few infected in the street. They stopped and saw the team instantly, screamed and came running for them. Shaw looked over at Priest with a shit-eating grin.
“Go ahead,” he chided. Shaw punched it and took off toward the infected. They kept right on coming.
Within 25 yards, Shaw yelled, “Ramming speed,” and then hit all three infected. Their heads bounced off the top bar of the brush guard, smashing into what looked like broken eggshells. Brains, skull fragments and blood littered the hood as the three disappeared from view. Only a couple dings and crunch sounds were heard from underneath the Jeep as the infected bounced off the skid plate.
Shaw laughed, but Priest just shook his head, grinning. They arrived back at the tower, and everyone was impressed with the new modes of transportation.
The welcoming back was a strange one, because of the team usually being composed of a group of guys. Lia came out and gave Priest a hug and kiss.
Priest looked at her, “I guess you don’t give a shit what anyone thinks anymore.”
“Never did, just had to scope you out.” Inspired by Lia’s lack of giving a shit, Allison came out to Shaw with the same welcome, followed by Izzy.
Izzy hesitated in front of Webb for a second, then decided “Aw fuck it” and laid one on him. He didn’t seem to be put off by it, and his arms wrapping around her was all that needed to be said. Doc and Neville bitched about their situation and Caulfield was in the tower, so he had no idea if he needed to bitch.
Neville straightened up and looked at Doc, “Hey don’t worry. We will get to this CDC facility and there will be some hot scientists.”
That got a reaction from Izzy, “Hey what do you mean?” Neville tried to recover, “I-I-I didn’t mean you. I mean, you are hot too. Not that I’m looking or anything. Cap, I wasn’t looking, I mean she is special.” Izzy released Neville from his self-manufactured foot in mouth syndrome.
“Aw, you are so nice.” Izzy planted a kiss on Neville’s cheek. Even though he was mixed, he blushed just as hard as anyone and it showed. Izzy walked back over to Webb.
“I think you are special too,” Doc whined. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. He blushed, even though he was supposed to be a lady’s man from the Bronx. That just encouraged Allison and Lia to do the same. Both Doc and Neville blushed after each kiss.
“It was kind of pathetic, but let them have a little fun,” Webb thought.
They decided not to waste any more time and immediately loaded up. In Royal Blue (as Shaw called it) was Shaw, Priest, Lia and Allison, along with gear and supplies. Black Plague (as Doc called it) had Doc, Webb, Neville, Izzy along with Dr. Caulfield all cozy and laid out in the back.
The team took off down Route 81 heading to Wytheville before they would get on Route 27 heading south to get on Route 421. During the journey, the teams practiced contingency tactics if they became overwhelmed or the shit hit the fan in some other way. This comprised stopping and a shift in personnel.
Shaw and Doc
were both excellent drivers, so keeping them behind the wheel was the best plan. Trying to keep them out of a fight was the principal objective. If the fight went south, then Allison switched with Shaw and Izzy switched with Doc. This freed up their guns to join the assault. It felt like when you were teenagers and you stopped in the middle of the street, yelled “fire drill” and everyone changed seats.
CHAPTER 33
The team made it to Boone, NC at about 1:00 in the afternoon. Boone was a quiet town in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. It was also the home of Appalachian State College, which was almost as big as the entire town.
They weren’t here to sightsee, so “Black Plague” took the lead since Dr. Caulfield was the only one who knew how to get to the CDC facility on Snake Mountain. They traveled up the access road leading to the CDC facility and as they approached, they noticed the outer security fence had the gate blown off its hinges.
“Shit,” Webb breathed out. “Is this fucking place overrun as well?”
“It definitely looks like a battle has happened here,” Doc added. They moved in closer, but at a more cautious pace.
Webb keyed Priest, “What do you think?”
“Hmm, there has been a battle here, but the way it looks and the damage I am seeing, I don’t feel the infected attacked here.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m not sure about anything anymore, but it’s a gut feeling I have.” They stopped their vehicles and got out slowly, with weapons at the ready. They could see the bullet impact marks on the front metal door.
As they advanced closer to the door, a voice came over a speaker, “What do you want? You need to vacate the premises or I will release our security force if needed.”
“Hello, Sir. I am Captain Marcus Webb and this is Master Sargent Alec Priest from the United States Army. We have Dr. Caulfield and another scientist, Dr. Costa. We fled from a CDC facility in Dearborn, Michigan, and were ordered to bring them here.”
“Oh, really. Please wait for one moment and we will open up.” Seconds later, the front steer door opened, and a short, disheveled scientist type poked his head out. He had crazy red hair, tons of freckles, and a brown house robe on. He was quite the picture and reminded Webb of Hawkeye Pierce from MASH. The scientist looked around nervously.
Webb walked up to him, “Hello Sir. Is everything okay here?”
“Huh, what? No-no, things are terrible.”
“Have you been attacked by the infected?”
“What, infected? No, this is from some crazy mountain people trying to take this facility over.”
“Really? A bunch of rednecks trying to play warlords?” Priest asked. He had made his way up to Webb’s side.
“No-No, they are much more than that. They are organized and have sufficient numbers.”
Webb tried to give the man a reassuring look, “Ok, we will deal with them. Don’t worry.” “How many of you are left?”
“Just four of us are left. That’s it.”
“Ok, we can get everyone up to speed later. Let’s get everyone inside and set up a perimeter in case the rednecks show back up,” Webb directed. They hurried to get all their gear stowed and got Caulfield settled in one of the dorm rooms. He wanted to go straight to the lab, but they convinced him to get some rest. Once he was taken care of, the team gathered in the front section of the facility.
Webb had the Team form up on him, “Ok, we need to set up a perimeter and install some deterrents. Priest, get that taken care of.”
“Got it. Let’s move people. I don’t want to get caught outside by these guys and lose our element of surprise. We should be able to take a bunch of the guys out before they know what hit them. That’s IF they still don’t know we are here” The team acknowledged and went to work.
Neville moved the Jeeps to the backside of the facility. Shaw rigged up Claymores just like at the other facility, but set up three stages. He came back and he and Priest welded hinges back on the perimeter gate and reinforced it with some rebar that was lying around from a maintenance building. They set up a couple more Claymores at the fence, constructed some surveillance points, and a couple sniper supported positions on top of the facility entrance. Neville and Lia will start there. If things got too hot, they have a way on the backside to get down, and the team would provide suppressive fire to allow them to get into the facility. Priest and Shaw will start on the opposite sides of the facility entrance, with the same contingency.
As they finished their preparations, Doc spoke up, “You know, it’s bad enough out here having to fight all the infected, but to have to deal with regular people acting this way is bullshit.”
Priest nodded, “Yeah, but remember that in most places we have been overseas, it’s the same thing. Over in Somalia, Congo, Botswana, they all have civil war, ethnic cleansing and border skirmishes. You had these warlords trying to take advantage of the situation by hording food, natural resources, etc. Just so the people will bow down to them.”
“Yeah, their own fucking people!” Shaw got fired up whenever he talked about what they saw over there.
Priest continued, “Why should this be any different? Just a bunch of fucking assholes taking advantage of a seriously bad situation.” They all shook their heads. They had all seen the injustice and the corruption of people selling out their own.
The killings were brutal, and it didn’t matter if you were a man, woman or child. They all were killed, tortured and or raped. It was amazing that soldiers or warlords were there for ethnic cleansing, but would still rape people they were there to kill because they hated them. The Team finished up preparations and went in the facility for chow and a little rest. They had cameras set up at the bottom of the access road that would give them an early warning.
Inside the facility was basically the same layout as the other one, and they were probably all cookie cutter construction. However, the team was in full battle rattle up in Dearborn and didn’t have time to take a breath and enjoy the scenery.
The facility had a lunchroom, workout room, dorms, shower facilities, storage and a massive laboratory with all the latest technology. This facility was much better outfitted than the Dearborn one. Dr. Caulfield was extremely excited to get to work since he had gotten a few hours’ rest.
The Team took one of the storage rooms as their tactical load out and armory. It was the room right next to the Command Center (CC) of the facility. The CC had all the camera feeds inside and outside that monitored all lab environments and had access controls for the facility. It also had controls for the massive generators housed in the underground facility. Along with generators, there were underground fuel and water tanks making the facility self-sufficient.
There was an infirmary, which Doc and Izzy checked out together. It was nicely outfitted and could handle just about any emergency except for major surgery. If worse came to worse, it even might give it a go. There was enough emergency food to sustain 45 people for 6 months.
Webb had called an all-hands meeting in the large conference room. This was to meet everyone, establish rules and procedures and to update everyone on what was going on. “Hello everyone, I am Captain Marcus Webb of the U.S. Army. I would like to go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves. Please state your name, what you do, and any special traits or abilities. I want to take an inventory of all capabilities at our disposal.”
“Master Sargent Alex Priest, second in command.”
The rest of them went after Priest. “Dr. Isabelle Costa, microbiologist… I was also a medical doctor and was trained in minor surgery.”
“Allison Reeves, news reporter. I can navigate and monitor flight controls, but never got enough flight time to fly a chopper. Don’t think t
hat will benefit us much.”
“You have no idea,” Webb smiled.
“Chief Sargent Lia Dahan with IDF, now a Light Reaper.” That got some “damn rights” and a couple claps. “I have training in light weapons, sniper operations, hand to hand combat and I was a communications officer, so I am trained in various radios, computers, GPS, sat phones, etc.”.
“I am Dr. Caulfield, virologist with research in Hematology. I can make wine and beer.” A few faces lit up in the room.
“I am Dr. Diane Santiago, Pathologist dealing with body tissue and disease. I have a green thumb and can grow things in dirt and using hydroponics.”
“I am Dr. Bethany Rand, Immunologist. I also sew as a hobby. Dresses outfits, couch covers, etc.”
“I am Dr. Arnold Holtz (the scientist with the crazy red hair), Biotechnologist, disease and medicine research. I am involved in husbandry to some extent.”
“Ok, we are not here to take over or to bully you guys around. We are here, at least for the foreseeable future, to provide security and to keep all of you safe. Now, to do that efficiently and properly, there will need to be some procedures to abide by. First, let me tell you what you are dealing with.” Webb continues to explain the state of the world as he knows it. He explains what they have encountered and fought through. He talked about the reactions and mannerisms of the infected and the way they have been evolving.
When Webb finished, a general silence evaded the room along with shock, tears, and obvious disbelief. The scientists sat there for a few minutes, saying nothing.
Priest broke the silence. “We have some samples of the original virus strain to test with. Dr. Costa resealed the containers, but they dragged this virus through all those airports that spread this shit like wildfire. Hopefully with these samples, you may find a cure or antidote. I sure as hell hope so, at least!” As Priest finished, their faces lit up.