by Mark Tufo
“Mike,” he said, gesturing with but not actually pointing his rifle. “What are we going to do with them? We let these douche bags go they’ll head straight for Knox.”
“Let’s make one thing clear, now. We might be strangers to you but we are not with that jackass Knox. My name is Major Sanders. I am a Marine and was attached to the First Marine Expeditionary Brigade, although I don’t think they exist anymore. Over there is Sergeant Winters and Corporal Biddeford. They were with me when the dead shit-birds began to take over.”
“Don’t know of any Marine Corps bases in New Hampshire,” I said to him.
“There are no organized Marine Corps bases anywhere. I came up here to find my family.”
“And did you?”
“Mike! You taking that man out on a date?” BT asked. “If you haven’t noticed we’ve got some issues to take care of first.”
I lowered my rifle. “Semper Fi, Major.”
“What’s he doing?” BT asked Travis.
“You served?” the major asked.
“As hard as it may be to believe, I did five years.”
“Thought I might have seen something in the eyes, though you could use a shave,” he said as he pointed to my goatee.
“Swore I was never going to shave again once I got out.”
“I can get behind that sentiment,” Winters said. “Sir?” he asked, raising his rifle slightly. The major motioned for him to put it down.
“Dad?”
“Looks like no one is shooting anyone here today,” I said.
“Today?” the major asked.
“I like to keep my options open,” I told him.
“Want to give me the short story?” he asked.
I was about to tell him to go first, instead, I answered. “We found a settlement we’re trying to get to, it’s been a hard road. We had the unfortunate luck of running into one that would consider himself king. We’ve been separated from our main group and there’s a good chance this lunatic has some of our people.”
“This Knox fellow?” he asked, though it sounded like he already knew.
“One and the same. You know him?”
“Know of him. We’ve been monitoring the radio bands. We were actually on our way to the parts store to see what kind of people were holed up there.”
“That would have been us. Have you seen the rats?”
“Rats?” Biddeford asked.
“He’s got truckloads of them. Trained little assassins.” BT shuddered.
“He sends the rats in to either flush out or do the wet work,” I said.
“How many men?” the major asked.
“Tough to tell; he gathers stragglers. We had a run-in up in Maine, did a fair amount of damage to his kingdom, but there’s no lack of stupidity. I’d say maybe a hundred, though I don’t think he brought all of that with him.”
I noticed Biddeford handing Tommy a granola bar, which he gratefully accepted.
“Where’s this settlement?” the major asked.
“So far, major, I’ve given all the information.”
“Came for my wife and kid, sent them up here to my sister’s when it looked like things were going from bad to shithole.”
“And?”
“They’re all doing fine. The not-so-good news is I might have to consider Winters an in-law soon, the way I’ve seen him and my sister making eyes at each other.”
Winters turned. His mouth opened wide and he had a flush of red up his neck. “We’ve been discreet, sir.”
“Discreet? I think you’d better look up the definition of that word.”
“I told you he knew.” Biddeford shouldered his friend.
“You knew and didn’t tell me?” Sanders asked.
“I, um…I just found out.” Biddeford set up a weak defense.
“Relax, Winters. I still need you,” Sanders said. “For now.”
“And if you didn’t?” Winters gulped.
“You’d be spending a lot of time on point.” Winters blanched at that. “How confident are you about this settlement?” Sanders turned back to me.
I looked over at BT. He gave me that “you stepped in it” look of his. “What are you looking at me for? You’re going to do whatever you want to anyway.”
“We have, or had, depending on circumstances, access to a spy satellite with a live feed.”
Sanders sucked in his breath. “That’s a pretty powerful tool to have in your grip. You should have done more to protect it.”
“I don’t need shit from you, Major. My wife, son, and others may be in danger. We are a fairly large group, spread thin with fighters, doing our best to survive–just against zombies. You throw in a douche renegade group that has listed us as their enemy number one, and right now we’re lucky to be alive, much less keep our gadgets secure. You say you’re active? What the fuck have your trio been doing to preserve the American way of life?”
Don’t think the major was all that used to a dressing down, especially from someone that had only been a Corporal and barely held on to that rank. “Fair enough,” he said after a moment of reflection. “What can we do to help?”
“Um, well…” He kind of…nope. He caught me completely off-guard.
“You’ll have to excuse my friend, Major. He’s not much into the planning phase,” BT said coming over. But before he did so he got up in Winters’ face, well, chest to face, but you get the idea. “You ever put zip ties on me again and I’ll squish your head like a stress ball,” he said as he squeezed his massive hands into fists. Winters the man was beginning to resemble winter the season. Pale. He was pale, if that wasn’t clear.
I told him mostly what was going on and where we were headed and that there were still rats on our tale, actual rats, not tattletales. We had since moved out of the open and into one of the abandoned houses–the one that I had come through the yard of and sent Travis back to gather up my niece.
“This Deneaux, I’m not understanding why you’ve let her in amongst you if you are so distrustful of her,” the major said. “She sounds like a real piece of work.”
“Necessary evil, I’m afraid. Not that many of us are fighters.” I looked up as Travis returned with Meredith.
“Uncle, I might be in a little trouble,” she said as she down heavily on one of the kitchen chairs. She winced as she reached down to undo her boot laces.
I went over and helped her; had to completely remove the laces to give her swelling feet enough room as I quickly pulled her boots off. For a moment, I mistakenly thought she had on red socks, until some of the coloring dripped to the floor.
“Holy shit, Mer. When were you going to say something?” I was doing my best to peel her socks off without taking skin.
“Damn,” Biddeford said. “Don’t touch it. I’ve got supplies here.”
I was just thinking that was mighty convenient when Sanders spoke up.
“We have a bunch of safe houses in the neighborhood in case we have to bug out from our primary; this is one of them.”
“Smart. Wish I’d thought of that,” I said.
Biddeford came back with a basin, some Epsom salts, water and a few medical supplies.
“Whatever you two come up with, this one is out of the equation,” he said as he cut the other sock off with some medical scissors. Her left foot was even worse than the right.
Her feet turned the concoction that Biddeford had made in the basin to a frothy pink, she winced then sighed.
“That should help,” he told her.
Now I was a little fucked. I trusted these three men to a point, but I wasn’t ready to leave my hobbled niece with them. Yet whatever was happening at 2 Stevens Road, needed to be checked out, and soon.
“She’ll be fine here.” The major saw my concern. “I can get my wife over here to watch her, and short of a chainsaw and maybe some explosives nobody is getting in here.”
“What about rats?” I asked.
He didn’t answer. Every man who’s ever lived in a house kn
ows that if a rat wants in your home there isn’t much you can do about it.
“Alright, let’s work on something we may be able to fix,” he said. I know where Stevens is and remember the general layout. It’s a corner lot. If they are setting you up it’s a perfect place–great views all around the house, no stealthy way to approach. We got a few tricks up our sleeves we can use to cancel that out. Winters, head back to base, bring a car. We’re going to need all the smoke you can muster, and grab a couple of the SAWs as well.”
“The SAWs? Really? You know how long it took me to hand-fill those linked rounds? And who was the brainiac that called the M249 a ‘light machine gun’? Weighs over twenty damn pounds!”
“Sergeant!”
“Yes sir. I’m on it, sir.”
“I don’t know who is in there yet, Major. I don’t really want to go in with guns blazing, and I definitely don’t want my family shooting at me. I mean, I’m sure there are times when my wife wants to, I mean, at some point, but that isn’t now.”
“Just going to have to do some recon,” he said. “Let’s go over some of the details.”
“Got to admit, Talbot, it’s kind of nice to actually have an idea of what we’re going to do. Instills confidence,” BT said, smiling.
“Fuck off.”
He smiled wider. I don’t know exactly where their base of operations was, but it was close because Winters was back in under fifteen minutes.
“This is my wife,” Sanders said as he got up from the table. “Kylie, this is Michael, BT, Travis, Tommy, and the person you’ll be keeping an eye on, Meredith.”
She was a slight woman, early forties, blond hair, very pretty and very dignified looking, even with a pistol on each hip. She shook my hand. “I truly hope your family is okay,” she said to me.
If I still had any reservations about this group they dissolved in her deep blue eyes and the look of concern on her face.
“Oh, honey! Where did you get these boots?” She picked them up and admired the cut and leather before discarding them to the side. “If there can be happiness found in an apocalyptic event it’s that I have raided every couture shop up and down the coast.”
“I can attest to that,” Sanders laughed.
“I’ll get you some new, better fitting ones–just as pretty. I have some in your size,” Kylie said. “You be safe out there,” she said to her husband, to his two charges, to us all, really.
4
Mike Journal Entry 4
“Biddeford must be a quarter Cherokee and maybe three-quarter Japanese because he is damn near a ninja. We’ll send him to get right up close to the house; see if he can let us know what’s going on. We have a safe house the street over from Stevens. We can sit tight there while he goes out.”
“So, if it’s just them, I’ll be looking at a bunch of animals and kids, one young adult male, older woman and your wife?” Biddeford asked.
“That’s our best guess,” I said.
“His wife is the fiery red-head,” BT said. “Don’t piss her off–it’d be a bad day for you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Biddeford said as he ratcheted down anything that might come loose and make noise on his approach. “Testing,” he said into his small radio. “Why the hell didn’t the Corps have these?” he asked. “Had to walk around with radios bigger than my head; looked like a punk with a boombox.”
“Tough to find something bigger than that head,” Winters jibed his friend.
“You know what they say don’t you?” Biddie asked him.
“No, but I’m sure you’ll tell me,” Winters responded.
“Big head, big head.” He thrust out his pelvis.
“Get the hell out of here,” Sanders told him. “And be careful.”
“It’s a Marines thing; you wouldn’t understand,” I told BT as he shook his head in confusion at the exchange.
“Do you all have to pass the socially dysfunctional test before they’ll let you in?” BT asked.
“Who needs to be social? We shoot things,” I explained.
As twenty minutes passed, we grew tense. We’d heard nothing from Biddie, and just sitting there while we waited was excruciating.
“Kentucky, this is nugget. We have at least two home fries at the desired location. Possibly a dozen foreign bodies in the fryer.”
“What’s with the fast food references?” I asked Winters.
“The major was up for promotion right before the zees came,” he whispered.
“Oh.” I got it quick enough, especially for me.
“Biddie loves the jargon and the major seems alright with it.”
To me, it looked like Sanders wanted to take bites from the radio but I held my opinion to myself.
“Pulling back. Foreign bodies suspicious. I think they may have a transmitter detector.” We heard gunfire just as the radio cut out.
If I thought the previous twenty minutes had been tense, they paled in comparison to the next five.
“Nugget A-Ok,” he panted. “Back in five.”
He came in the door breathless; he’d run the entire time. “Shut off everything that transmits. Got a couple on my ass.” He took a deep breath. Wasn’t a half a minute later a drone flew across the yard.
“These guys aren’t playing around,” Sanders said as he stepped away from the window. “You must have really pissed them off.”
“To be fair, it was BT.” I pointed. “He destroyed their toilet.”
“Feel all safe and warm next to your Marine Corps buddies, do you?” BT asked threateningly.
“Well, I did right up until now.”
“Done?” Sanders asked me. I nodded.
Winters had given Biddie a drink; he took a couple of seconds to get his wind back. “Pretty sure I saw your wife and son. Couldn’t get close enough to see any others. I didn’t get the feeling that they were aware anyone was out there–they were alert but not alarmed. The ones watching the place though, they were all business. A fair amount of them, Major, are definitely prior military. A couple could even be special forces–they were on me pretty quick.”
“Night vision?” Sanders asked.
“I couldn’t stick around to ascertain, but it stands to reason.”
“So, they have the numbers, at least one eye in the sky, and a defensive perimeter.”
“Sir, Major,” I began. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t. This isn’t your fight, sir. I want my family back more than you can know, but I can’t ask you to sacrifice your own.”
“You’re a jarhead, right?” Winters asked with a lopsided smile. “You know we can’t leave anyone behind.” He clapped me on my shoulder. If I could have cried from relief and gotten away with it, I would have done so; I’d save the tears for when I had Tracy next to me.
“Let’s go through some plans,” Sanders said as he began to draw a map on the table.
“A man after my own heart,” BT said as he grabbed a chair.
“I could plan if I wanted to,” I said.
“Right. Keep telling yourself that.”
“Alright. Tonight, is a three-quarter moon, plenty of light. My guess is not everyone that has the night vision will wear it, but let’s say half. If they’ve got a dozen, we have to assume they’re evenly spaced at the intersections, keeping every approach in sight. We have enough here to easily overwhelm each position, but we’ll need to be quick. They’ll have radio contact with each other, so our unknown factor is how often they keep in touch; that’s our window to move from one team to the next. I think our best bet is going to be to spread thin. Teams of two will take out two intersections at the same time, and meanwhile we send three people in for extraction; I’m thinking Winters, myself, and you. What’s your name?”
“Tommy.”
“Tommy, you alright with a knife?” I think he had his doubts, looked like he was thinking the kid might be a liability and wanted to keep him under his wing.
“I’ve been known t
o use one from time to time,” he answered.
“Good. You’re with us. Biddie, you, Talbot, his son, and the range here, take on this area.”
“The range?” BT asked.
“As in mountain,” Sanders said without looking up from his map.
“Oh, I can live with that.” BT was smiling.
“More like a volcano, always ready to erupt…but range works too,” I said quickly as BT frowned at me.
“What about me?” Meredith hobbled over.
“I have no doubt you’re good in a fight, but right now you’re a liability. If we have to move fast I’m not sure you can keep up.” I think Sanders saw something in her eyes that she was going to prove him different. “Listen, Meredith, there’s no shame in sitting this one out. I know you could put those boots back on and suck it up, but you’ll undo all the work Biddie did to keep your feet clean and infection free. You can’t risk further trouble; his expertise only goes so far, you end up needing a doctor and you could lose either of those feet.”
“Uncle?” Meredith pleaded.
“There is no part of me that doubts you as a warrior, kid. You’re a skilled survivor, but he’s right, we can’t risk you getting worse. Please do this for me,” I asked.
She nodded reluctantly.
“You realize that means not sneaking out after us, right?”
She nodded reluctantly again.
“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Kylie said. “We’ll make a batch of brownies, do some needlepoint…” everyone was staring at her like she was sprouting a tail. “I’m kidding!” she yelled just as Meredith was going for her boots. “We’re going to defend the homestead until they come back. Just because we’re not in the action now doesn’t mean we won’t be.”
“Once we get into the thick of it we’re not going to be able to communicate,” Sanders said. “I’ll click one time on each squad’s radio once we’ve dispatched them; you do the same on your end. I think it would be best if you, Mike, and either your son or Range went in to retrieve your family. There will be fewer chances of mistaken identity and someone getting needlessly shot.”