“I ran to the end of the street and stopped. I didn’t know where to go. I sat down in the middle of the street and started crying. That’s when one of those things almost got me. He came out from behind a parked car and lunged at me. I jumped up before he could get me and ran.”
“I didn’t stop running after that. I dodged at least three more of those things. It wasn’t too hard. They were kind of slow. But I didn’t know where I was going – only that I needed to get away. The next thing I really remember was seeing the school bus...”
Maria blinked once and looked up, as if snapping out of a daydream. Christine had sat in silence, listening to the teenage girl recounting her tale. She still held on to Maria’s hand with both of hers. Maria noticed and looked at her hand. She had squeezed Christine’s hand hard in the telling of her tale. Her grip softened now as she became aware.
Around them the cafeteria had grown quiet. Just about everybody was looking at Maria. Some people had even moved closer, to better hear her story.
Christine saw Nancy at the next table. The older lady’s eyes had welled up, and her body was twitching slightly, as if she had to restrain herself from rushing over and collecting the young girl into a hug. “You poor thing...” She said.
Claire, who was sitting beside Nancy, locked eyes with Maria. She had a sad look on her face, one of shared sorrow. Christine sensed that the two of them had made a connection.
Keith even looked sad. The normally unemotional man gave several small nods when Maria looked over at him, before inclining his head.
Christine’s mom and dad were clinging to each other. The two most outspoken individuals of the group were reduced to a stunned silence.
It was all too much for Maria. She broke contact with Christine and stood up in a rush. “I’m tired. ... Going to bed.” She mumbled as she stepped away from the bench and hurriedly walked out of the cafeteria.
Behind her, Ern had put a hand on Nancy’s shoulder. “Let the girl be.” He said softly, reading Nancy’s intentions before she had even acted.
The rest of the group disbanded quickly after that and went to their sleeping quarters. It was very quiet during the night. The silence was only broken once. By the sound of shooting in the distance.
Chapter Thirty-six
Tammy
October 28, 7:45 P.M.
The intensely loud ‘WHOP WHOP WHOP’ of the helicopter blades above briefly overwhelmed all other sensations. It was so strong, that Tammy felt the pressure in waves on her ear drums.
Assisted by strong arms, she moved further into the fuselage of the massive helicopter. As she passed the trio of radio operators, she saw that they held each other in an embrace. She was sure that she heard BB say, ‘Bye Danny.’
With the marine’s help, she passed several rows of pallets, which sat secured on the floor of the aircraft with netting, covering boxes stacked about chest high. Past the pallets was an open space. Heavy netting hung from the ceiling of the aircraft, ready to secure a load that wasn’t there. The marine gestured for Tammy to hold on to the netting for balance, then turned back to collect another person.
Eventually, the two marines moved everybody to a position along the netting. Once they were done, they took the time to check each person for injuries. The group swayed and moved with the unpredictable movements of the helicopter and clung to the netting. But the marines seemed to have no problem with their balance, moving around with confidence.
Abi was positioned next to Tammy. BB was across the open center area, holding on to the netting on the opposite side. He got their attention with an excited wave.
“This is one of those Super Stallion helicopters, I think.” He yelled. One of the marines was just walking close by and had heard his statement.
He shook his head and came closer so that he could be heard without yelling.
“Close, but no cigar, Boot.” The marine had a distinct Northeastern accent, making ‘cigar’ sound like ‘cigah’.
“This here is a CH 53 K King Stallion, boot. It’s the largest heli in the US military. It’s wicked! Biggah’ than one of them Chinooks!”
Since there was no reply, the marine continued.
“We call him Rocko. Seats 50 comfortably, when we got’s the centerline seats in.” He pointed at some anchor holes that extended down the center of the helicopter from front to back.
“Sorry folks, standin’ room only today!” He guffawed at his own joke.
“You guys are lucky. We were on the way to make a drop, with direct orders to deliver and return to base. Can’t be wastin’ fuel an’ all!”
He grinned at Tammy. The marine had an infectious personality, so Tammy couldn’t help but smile back at him.
“We wasn’t too fah from here when we picked up yoah distress call. The Cap decided we should take a slight detoah and check it out.”
“We’re sure glad you did!” Abi piped up, which elicited another big grin from the marine.
“Well you know the Marines. ‘Semper Gumby!’” He guffawed again. Tammy had no idea what ‘Semper Gumby’ meant.
BB did laugh at the joke. “We owe you, brother.” He said in a more serious tone. “We were seriously FUBAR!” He extended his hand to the marine.
“Hey, we had ta get our good deed in fer the day!” The marine answered as they shook hands.
“Name’s Willy Boyne.”
“Nice ta meet’ya, Willy. I’m Frankie. Frankie McLellan. That there is Johnny Hershey. Like the chocolate bah!” He said with a chuckle.
“Up front we got Captain John-Michael Dupuis!” The way Tammy heard him say it, it sounded like ‘Due-pee’. “And his co-pilot DeAndre Daniels. But Johnny and me calls ‘em ‘Emu’ and ‘Alf’!” This was followed by a series of guffaws as the marine laughed at his joke. Tammy had no idea what these nicknames meant, but guessed they weren’t flattering.
“We’s Rocko’s crew!” He tapped his foot a couple of times.
The helicopter had found some smooth air, so the passengers were able to let go of the netting and move through the fuselage. There was little lighting inside the helicopter, and Tammy could only make out four windows in the entire hold. Two near the back and two near the front. Tammy felt the draw and made her way to the front windows. Several others followed in her wake. Tammy managed to get a good spot in front of the window and looked outside.
They had passed over the city limits and were somewhere over the countryside. She watched as they flew over a few small towns and villages, and a bunch of farms. Tammy could see smoke rising from a few houses, the cars haphazardly parked or crashed, and occasionally a figure moving around. She thought she saw a person waving from the roof of a house, but they were travelling so fast that the moment was gone before she was sure. Eventually, the settlements grew less frequent and smaller and the ground started undulating into hills. Then from one moment to the next the farms gave way to forests. Tammy watched in a daze as the green canopy flowed underneath their feet, unbroken except for the occasional creek or glade.
Tammy looked over and saw BB standing nearby. She moved closer to the gaunt figure and tapped him on the arm.
“Willy – I mean BB, what’s ‘Semper Gumby’? And why did Frankie call you ‘Boot’?”
BB grinned. “Nothing bad, Tammy. Boot is just what marines call us army folks. Hey, I was surprised he didn’t call me ‘Doggie’ – that’s short for ‘Dog-face’. Or ‘trench monkey’ – that’s another good one. ... Must mean he likes me or is in a good mood.”
BB laughed at his own comment. A short ‘He-he’ laugh that sounded more like barking than laughter to Tammy.
BB continued. “The Gumby thing – do you remember Gumby, the bendy tv show character?” Tammy nodded uncertainly. “Well the marines are proud of being able to adapt – bend to changing situations – like Gumby.” He barked another quick laugh. “Glad they are or otherwise we’d still be stuck in that building!”
Tammy nodded. “Yeah. We owe these guys our lives.” She agr
eed.
She looked back out the window and watched the landscape slide by below them. After a few minutes, Tammy turned her attention to the cockpit in front of her. From her angle she could only see one of the pilots. The cockpit looked a lot like an aircraft cockpit
The co-pilot, an African American man, would occasionally speak into the microphone attached to his flight helmet. Only the pilots and the two marine crewmen had these helmets, so she had no idea what was being said.
Several minutes later, and about half an hour after their rescue from the camp, Tammy could see the co-pilot becoming more agitated and speaking into his microphone several times. He turned around to look at the group in the hold behind him. One of his eyebrows rose as he saw Tammy. He checked her out for half a second before remembering his task. He leaned as far as he could out of his chair and had to yell to be heard above the noise of the rotors above them.
“WE ARE THREE MINUTES OUT. HOLD ON FOR LANDING.”
With a nod at each other, Johnny and Frankie herded the passengers towards the back of the helicopter, where the pallets sat.
“Hold on tah these!” Frankie said emphatically, pointing at the netting fastened to the pallets. The group complied, and within a minute they could feel the helicopter descending. The bump when they set down was larger than expected and half the group still lost their balance.
Tammy was one of the lucky ones as she managed to stay on her feet. She could hear Johnny yell several expletives behind her. She heard that ‘emu’ term again. She still wondered what it meant.
People were picking themselves up, and everybody was back on their feet before the rear ramp started lowering to the ground. The noise only increased as the large ramp opened up.
Once the ramp was down, Johnny made his way down to speak to a soldier that had walked up to the helicopter. After a brief exchange, Johnny made his way back up the ramp as the soldier yelled something towards his left.
Johnny signalled and Frankie got the passengers moving.
“Ok folks! End of da ride!” He ushered the group down the ramp where a second soldier was now standing. He beckoned the group to follow him and, a few seconds later, they were far enough away from the huge helicopter to speak without having to yell.
The soldier turned around to face the six newcomers. “Please follow me. I am to take you to our commanding officer first, and then we will get you situated.”
That said, he turned on his heel and started walking. Mike just shrugged and followed the soldier. The rest following suit. Tammy took a moment to look around as she fell in step behind Breanne.
The area she had just come from was wide open. Just a little shack and a garage stood near the crudely painted helipads. A pallet truck sat ready to drive into the helicopter to pick up its first load. Tammy figured that it was waiting for the helicopter to be completely shut down.
Tammy could see a fence in the distance, with forest outside of the fence line. It looked like this fence went all the way around the complex. The area she was walking towards had another fence around it. This was the main camp. A simple dirt road led up to the gate. Tammy scanned down the dirt road and saw the second gate at the far fence. This place was definitely out of the way.
THE COMPLEX ITSELF loomed larger as she approached. Tammy couldn’t see much of it from her angle, but it almost looked like another safe zone. Except this safe zone was full of soldiers. She could see dozens of them. They all moved around with purpose.
We could have used them earlier today.
Tammy was finding it hard not to be bitter as she walked through the gate and into the complex.
The first building beyond the guard tower appeared to be the headquarters.
A grizzled old man was standing in front of the building. The man wore a perpetual frown on his lined face. The soldier stepped up to this man and saluted.
“Sir. Here are the refugees, as requested.”
“Thank you, son.” The old man said, not unkindly. “Give us a minute.”
Without question, the soldier saluted and retreated to a moderate distance away.
Tammy noticed that Mike, BB and Abi all stood at attention. Breanne looked unimpressed. Steve looked scared.
“At ease.” Mike and his crew shifted to a more comfortable position.
“My name is Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Shaw. Welcome to our FOB. ... Sorry, that’s ‘forward operating base’. I’m the senior officer at this outfit, acting as the CO, or commanding officer. Mostly because anybody senior to me has either died already or is hiding somewhere.” A small flash of irritation crossed the Lieutenant Colonel’s face.
“Anyway, we’ll get all of you squared away. We can use you dittyboppers.” He stated, nodding his head at Mike’s threesome. “Got a mission in the morning. Might make you regret leaving Kilo two-six. You will be briefed shortly.” He regarded Breanne and matched her frown. “You civilians will be put up in one of the spare tents. We got a lot of spare tents now.”
Tammy was impressed that Shaw knew all about them already. She guessed that the marines had called ahead with the lo-down.
“Excuse me, Lieutenant Colonel Shaw. Is your mission tomorrow to head back to the safe zone to rescue the people there?” Tammy could not suppress the reporter in her.
Shaw gave her a flat stare. “That’s all. I know you may have some questions. Please relay these through my aide.” Was his reply.
That must be code for don’t ask questions – they won’t get answered... Tammy guessed.
Shaw had waved the soldier over. Tammy couldn’t help herself though.
“But, what about those people? There must be hundreds of people, alive, trapped in the safe zone! Shouldn’t you mount a rescue mission?”
Shaw was not amused.
“Listen, miss. This isn’t the same world that we lived in a few days ago. There will be a new Order. People are going to need to accept that. Without question.”
Tammy was shocked and appalled. She felt her color rising and was about to argue when the aide stepped in front of her, facing Shaw.
“Please get these folks situated.” He pointed at Mike and his crew. “Row A, tent four.” Then he pointed at the civilians “Row C, tent nine. Dismissed.”
Shaw stared at Tammy without uttering another word. His face showed no emotion.
The aide took charge. “Please follow me. We will drop off the comms crew first.” Once again, he immediately started walking, not waiting to see if anybody would follow.
Tammy hesitated a moment. She wanted to challenge the officer. But he was already looking towards the gate. When she followed his gaze, she saw the helicopter crew. She started to follow the rest of her group, which had already departed, but first she waved at Frankie. The marine grinned and waved back. The marines stopped in front of Shaw and saluted.
As Tammy walked away, she swore that she heard one of the marines address Shaw as ‘Captain’.
Maybe marines and army have different ranks? She wondered, then quickly forgot about it as she followed the rest of her group.
The communications team was deposited without much ceremony. There was already another officer present, waiting to brief them.
The soldier led them back down the aisle of tents to the main area, and from there into a second aisle. There were several soldiers standing around. Tammy felt a bit self conscious as some of the men were gawking at her. She even heard a few low whistles.
They stopped in front of a tent.
“This is you. I advise you to only leave the tent for urgent business. Latrines are at the end of this aisle, but I advise you to use the bedpans that you will find inside.”
Without another word, he turned and walked away.
Steve and Breanne crept slightly closer to Tammy, clearly not feeling at ease. The tent in front of them was a rather daunting blocky looking structure.
“WELCOME TO OUR ESTABLISHMENT!” All three jerked, startled by the sound.
A Latino soldier approached them from t
he next tent over.
“We have plenty of empty rooms at our fine hotel this evening.” He spread his arms out, presenting the camp behind him, and continued the motion with a flamboyant wave towards the tent in front of them.
He walked past the threesome and up to the tent entrance. “These fine-looking structures are called DRASH. Any of you know what that means?”
He continued before anybody could respond. “DRASH stands for ‘deployable rapid assembly shelter’. It takes no time to set up, and keeps troops sheltered in any climate. Now that’s what I call tax dollars well-spent!” He flashed another grin.
He reached up and started opening the door of the structure. “Here, let me get this for you.” He said as he industriously undid the door ties and opened the zipper.
“We can do it ourselves; you know.” Breanne was clearly uncomfortable by the forward nature of the soldier.
He took a step to the side, his hands raised in a gesture of appeasement. “Ok. Ok. I was just trying to be a good neighbor. I figured that you could use a friendly face after dealing with that Rupert.” He waved in the direction the aide had gone.
Tammy took a step forward. “It’s ok Breanne.” She turned to the soldier. “Thank you,” She looked at his name tag. “Garcia.”
Garcia smiled and nodded. He took another step to the side to show that he meant no harm. Then his smile faltered for a second. “Hey – I know you!”
Tammy was used to this, and was about to explain her television role, when Garcia surprised her.
“You were talking to Peters, just before we headed out from Kilo two-six this morning!” He said excitedly. “Sorry – the safe zone.” He added quickly.
Tammy thought for a few seconds, then nodded. “Mark.”
“Yes, that’s him! We were standing at the bus. Actually, you might also remember Collins. Lanky, skinny guy with the bad pick-up lines.” Garcia grinned broadly.
Apocalypsis Immortuos | Book 1 | Syndrome Page 25