by Gary Hickman
“Well now, you boys sound mighty important. Where is your military vehicles and all that? That Jeep there don’t look like no military vehicle.”
“We were flying on a Black Hawk, but when we stopped for fuel, a bunch of infected in a fire truck destroyed it. Then we were on foot until we repurposed two Jeeps.”
“Hmm, that sounds like the truth, but there is only one problem. You boys “repurposed” trucks out of my town. That’s what we call stealing.”
“Ok, let’s cut to the chase here because we have things to do. What exactly is it you want?”
“I am fixin’ to hurt you 20 ways to Sunday if I don’t get my trucks back.”
“Sorry Sir, but that will not happen.” The driver and passenger raised their rifles.
Priest said quietly, “Neville, passenger.” No more did Priest say it. Then you heard the report of the rifle, see the passenger’s head snap back and fall to the ground. The driver looked over at his buddy and was in total shock. He ran over to him, knelt down and cradled what was left of the young man’s head.
“You shot my boy, mother fuckers. You shot my boy!” Sorrow and anger racked the driver as he held his boy in his lap. By now, the two in the back of the crew cab and the four in the truck behind it got out to see what was going on. The guys from the second truck looked down at the father and son on the ground and showed confusion about what had just happened.
“Get your people together and go on home.” Priest said in a calm tone.
The father looked up with rage in his eyes, “You fuckers will pay for this. Pay in blood!” The driver looked at his guys and nodded. They brought their weapons up.
“Shaw!” Priest yelled and then dove behind the Jeep. Shaw let loose and sent round after round of .50 cal into the group standing out in the open. Just then three trucks came from the opposite direction with the beds full of men with rifles.
“Damn, and there they are. They are attempting a Pincher Movement.” Shaw and Neville pivoted to engage the 3 trucks coming from the east. Priest rushed around to the front of the Jeep while Shaw and Neville took on the additional threat.
Neville sniped the first driver as he was coming over the median. With the driver out of commission, the truck couldn’t navigate the ditch in the middle of the median and the passenger side front tire dug deep into the ditch. With the forward momentum suddenly stopped, the truck dug in and tipped over.
The men in the bed were yelling as the truck tilted over. They tried to jump out far enough to avoid being rolled over on and most didn’t make it. As the men jumped, the side of the bed rolled over pinning them to the ground. One guy who was slower than the rest was pinned down by his neck.
The passenger in the front didn’t have his seatbelt on and the upper half of his body was ejected out the window as his body became trapped under the truck. The other trucks swerved around the lead truck to continue the assault.
As Priest had made it around the front of the Jeep, he thought to himself, “if I were planning this then I would expect someone else to… he trailed off. “And there they are.” Priest saw another two trucks coming from the direction they had originally come. “Hmm, these guys are smarter than I gave them credit for,” Priest thought to himself.
Shaw was firing on the second truck that had swerved out to the left of the lead truck to prevent from crashing into it. He raked the front windshield and could see at that the driver and passenger were now dead. Their brains and blood covered the back window and the men’s faces sitting behind them.
There was so much blood that Shaw couldn’t tell if the blood on their faces was from the heads in the front seat or their own. It didn’t much matter, because Shaw kept firing on those in the back seat and through to the men in the truck bed.
This truck was coming in much faster than the lead truck had, and when it hit the ditch, it rolled over multiple times. The men in the bed were thrown out, and the truck rolled over them. Their bodies were more like meat bags than recognizable humans.
The truck came to stop with what looked like rag dolls flopping around inside. Those who were flung out of the bed and lived were shocked and confused, trying to sit up and gain their bearings.
“Neville, swap targets,” Shaw yelled. Neville instantly pivoted to target the men who were sitting up from being launched out of the truck bed. One man who was holding his arm, which was bent at an unnatural angle, received a round in the left cheekbone that exited the right side of his head. Half his face exited with the round. Another man lost his throat and half of his neck. Blood spurted out of his ravaged neck as he fell to the ground.
Meanwhile, Shaw had focused his fire on the last remaining truck. The men in the window seats were trying to pull out their rifles to get shots off and were failing miserably. Their shots were wildly off target, but their truck navigated through the ditch in the median.
As they can up on the highway, Shaw shifted his aim to the rear of the truck to take out the back tire. He concentrated fire toward the rear, punctured the gas tank. After a couple seconds and a few rounds, BABOOM! The entire truck went up like a fireball and it launched bodies into the air, looking like Molotov cocktails.
Fire flashed through the truck cab like a back draft and it engulfed all the men inside instantly as they struggled to exit the vehicle. The bodies finally started pouring out as their faces were melting because of the intense heat. They escaped the truck only to have their liberation short lived as Shaw cut them down one by one.
Priest could feel the heat on the back of his neck from the truck exploding, but he didn’t take his eyes off of the approaching threat. The two other trucks were about a ¼ mile away when he saw movement behind them. A smile crept on his face, “Right on time,” he said to himself. “Shaw, Neville, are you girls done playing around back there, we have company of a unique sort.”
“Damn Sarge, I’m getting seasick from all this pivoting around,” Neville joked. He scoped down the highway. “Is that the Captain coming?”
“It sure is,” Priest responded.
“So, you knew they would send multiple troops from multiple directions during different times?”
“I didn’t know, but I assume and planned for it just in case. I gave these guys the benefit of the doubt and expected them to send their people in waves. That’s why I radioed the Captain at the time I did. Hopefully giving it enough time for the last wave of these guys to start and our guys come in behind them.
“Father to Spider, do you copy?”
“Go ahead, Father.”
“Spider, eliminate those two trucks just ahead of you. They are unfriendlies.”
“Copy that.” Around Priest, Shaw and Neville all was silent except for the crackling of the car-b-que that Shaw had lit off. The gun fire from the approaching Jeep was heard. Webb and Lia were firing upon the two trucks coming toward Priest’s team.
“Shaw, hold your fire but Neville, you can engage if you can put rounds on the target and not into Webb’s Jeep.”
“Understood, Sarge,” Neville acknowledged. Neville sighted on one of the two trucks. He saw the driver looking back to see where Webb was and that’s when he put a round in the side of his temple. As with all the others, his blood and brain matter splattered onto the face of the passenger. He freaked out and didn’t grab the wheel as the driver slumped over toward him.
The truck careened out of control and bounced off the guardrail, then launched into the median and nosedived in a washout ditch. The abrupt stop catapulted most of the occupants out through the front windshield. Some of them hit the grass and bounced twice, while others hit the pavement and left parts behind on the blacktop.
Scraps of flesh and smears of blood were seen for 50 yards. Captain Webb’s team finished
any others who survived the guardrail crash. After seeing the destruction of their friends, brothers, sons and fathers, the remaining truck turned tail and ran, heading west. Webb’s Jeep arrived at Priest’s location.
“You know to throw a party!” Webb said.
“Don’t I know it!” Priest responded. “Thanks for showing up, I had a feeling these knuckleheads would try something.”
“Yeah, we arrived just in time.” Priest was getting ready to answer when Neville spoke up,
“Sarge, that truck is coming back this way.”
“What? Are they stupid? We’ll shred them to bits.”
Still sighting through his scope, Neville answered, “Ahh, I know why.”
“You plan on letting us in on it?”
“There is a large horde chasing right after them.”
“What is large?” Priest asked.
“Quick guess, I’d say a couple thousand.”
“Fuck, are you serious?” Webb got out of his Jeep and he and Priest pulled out their binos for a look.
“Holee shit! There are tons of them.” Priest looked at Webb.
“Where the fuck did they all come from?”
“Don’t know, but we better get back,” Webb said. That’s when Webb heard banging on the back of Priest’s Jeep. “What the hell?”
“Oh, we have a guest coming over for dinner.”
“Bagged one, did you?”
“Sure did.” They all loaded up and took off before the truck made its way back to their position. The team hauled ass back to the compound and reactivated the perimeter defenses.
CHAPTER 37
Dr. Caulfield’s voice came over the speaker, “Ah, Captain Webb and Sargent Priest, please come to the CC, we have a problem.”
“Shit, what now?” Webb said, exasperated. Both men got to the CC and Dr. Caulfield pointed to a monitor whose camera covered the front fence. There were figures banging on the gate and fence.
“How did the infected get here so quick?” Priest asked.
“Those aren’t infected,” Webb answered. “Looks like people from the town.”
“You got to be fucking kidding me!” Priest yelled with annoyance.
“I guess they figure this is the best place to be.” Webb turned on the speaker next to the camera and grabbed the mic. They could hear the people yelling and banging on the fence.
“Let us in. The infected are coming. Open up now!” Webb stopped before addressing them.
He clicked over to the internal speakers, “Everyone report to the CC, ASAP.” He looked at Priest, “We are not a dictatorship and we need to put this to a vote.”
Priest signed, “Yeah, you’re right.”
A few moments later everyone was present at the CC and Webb spoke to the group, “Ok everyone, we have a situation. There are a couple thousand infected coming this way. Now, we are safe and can maintain for quite a long time while we wait for this horde to pass. The issue is that the people from the town are at our gate wanting access to the compound.” The scientists looked at each other in bewilderment.
Dr. Rand spoke up, “Are these the people that attacked us before trying to get in?”
“The same people who attacked us a couple hours ago, and these are the same. I told you we were not here to take over, so everyone has a say. So, we either let those people in or we leave them outside. Those are your two choices and I’ll give you a couple minutes to decide.” All the scientists got together to discuss.
Dr. Caulfield looked over at the team, “Aren’t you going to deliberate?”
Priest looked at him, “We already did and know where we stand.” Dr Caulfield still looked somewhat confused, but turned back around to his huddle. Some long minutes later, the huddle broke.
Webb acknowledged them, “Ok, by a show of hands, all those in favor of bringing these people inside, raise your hand.” Three hands shot up, Dr. Holtz, Caulfield and Santiago. All those in favor of leaving them outside our gate, raise your hand. Seven hands went up. “Okay, that is 7 against 3, which means they stay outside?”
Dr. Caulfield spoke up, “Are you really going to leave them there? It sounds barbaric.”
“Well, these people tried to break in before and they just tried to kill us a few hours ago. So, yeah, I am.” Webb went back to the microphone and keyed it. “We took a vote and the majority consider your group too dangerous and untrustworthy.”
Screams of anger and pleading were heard through the speakers. “You can thank the group of you that just tried to kill us for that. You have five minutes to clear that fence and get back down that access road. If not, then we will remove with force. Your five minutes have already started.”
The team continued to watch the screens. Most of the crowd turned and ran back down the road. Seven or eight stayed staring at the facility entrance. They stood there with their faces pressed against the chain link.
One man spoke up, “You don’t let us in, we will die.”
Webb responded, “Hey, jackass, you guys tried to kill us with no provocation. Now you want us to just open our doors and invite you in? You can’t be serious.”
“I didn’t have nothin to do with that. That was another group and isn’t the ones standing here.”
“And we’re just supposed to take your word for it?” Webb could understand their plight, but was he supposed to put everyone in the facility in danger, based on the word of a man he didn’t know?
“I’m telling you; those people weren’t us. You let us in or you will have innocent blood on your hands.” The man was staring a hole right into the camera and something about him was off.
Webb couldn’t nail it down, but there was something definitely off. He looked to be in his early forties with black hair, a thick black beard, and had on tactical pants, boots and a t-shirt with a tactical vest.
“Sir, we are sorry, but the answer is no. We will not open our gate to you. There are too many unknowns for us to do so.”
The man nodded his head. “Ok, ok, that’s how it’s going to be? That is your last answer?”
“It is,” Webb replied.
“Ok then. Have it your way, but remember it was you who put us in this position. The blood is on your hands.” He looked around and then a smile crept across his face, “I wonder if this fence could hold back thousands? It would be interesting to watch.”
The man turned around without saying a word and walked away. He went about 10 yards, stopped and stared dead in the camera, “The name is Brody. Remember it, because you will hear it again.” And he walked off.
Webb looked at Priest. “He will lead all those fuckers here.”
“Well, it makes sense. Lead them here, let the infected take us out, then they come in to clean up and take over the facility when the infected move on,” Priest surmised. “Fuck, they could screw this entire thing up,” he said it low under his breath.
“What?” Webb tried to hear.
“We need to lure them away. We need to make sure they never reach this compound. They need to be led in the opposite direction.”
Webb stood there and pondered for a minute, taking in all that Priest was saying. The more Webb thought about it, the more dangerous it sounded. The problem was, Webb couldn’t think of anything else that would accomplish what they needed to do.
Webb took in a deep breath and exhaled, “Who are we going to get to do it, and how are we going to execute the plan?”
Priest looked and him with that resolved look, “Me.”
“What? You? Why you?”
“Marcus, think about it. It needs to be someone fast, ma
neuverable, quick thinking and who has experience solving issues in case things go south. Who is better equipped than yours truly on the bike?” Webb hated when Priest made so much sense. It didn’t suppress the feelings of worry and dread that one of his team, his brother, his friend was going out there with basically no support.
“I don’t like it,” Webb finally said.
“I’m not exactly thrilled about it, but do you have a better idea?” He didn’t and Priest knew it.
Webb was one to lead from the front, not hiding underground while your people are out doing the job he should do. He hated things to be this way. Priest could see the internal turmoil written on Webb’s face and he put his hand on his shoulder.
“Dude, it’s fine. It’s the only way and we both know it.”
“I know, but it doesn’t make me feel any better about it.”
“It will be fine.” They spent the next hour planning the route and coming up with a few contingencies. Half way through, Lia had joined them and asked to go. She was denied, but she stayed to spend time with Priest before he left.
Priest packed a ruck with Lia’s help and loaded up with ammunition. He added a second holster with a Glock and outfitted the front of the bike to hold two combat knives.
After a couple minutes to double check everything and make sure it was secure, he kissed Lia goodbye and made his way down the access road, being cautious about whether any of the town’s group was lingering around.
All the streets looked deserted as Priest made his way east to intercept the coming herd. As he rode, Priest tried to focus on the feeling of riding, trying to compartmentalize everything he had going on. He exited the town going east on Rt. 421. He went a couple miles, fully expecting to come across the horde by now. What the hell was going on? He thought.
As he continued on, he saw dust clouds in the distance. Priest didn’t know if this was because of the horde or something else. He proceeded another ¼ mile, stopped and pulled his binos to get a better view.
He saw a dozen trucks driving in a large circle attempting to corral the infected, like they were on some damn cattle drive. It wasn’t working all that well, but it was obvious they were trying to round them up.