What Remains: The Outbreak

by Tyler Barrett

  The others nodded, and they all agreed, breaking up their meeting. Each one of them went to get food from their bags and started checking their gear.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Twenty minutes later they were all downstairs; Kenji and Nobuto were the last two to show up since Kenji had decided to check on Knight before they left. He was still lucid, but just barely; Ramirez promised to keep an eye on him and make sure that if things went bad, he would see an end to it. Ren was also staying behind, and they had posted her on the roof. As long as no one drew attention to himself or herself, everything would fine.

  Kenji had made them bring a flashlight, just in case they had to go inside a building, other than that all he had was his katana and a bottle of water. He had his pack on his back, but he had made sure to empty it before leaving so it didn't weigh him down. Nobuto had a knife, one given to him by the soldiers, and looked nervous as he always did before they left the safety to confront the infected. It was a dance with death, tire, slow down, and you would be quickly welcomed into death's embrace.

  They were so close to finding a way out of the country; they didn’t want to fail so near to the end of their journey. Spirits were high, though, everyone hoped they could find what they were looking for, a way out. They all were ready, and they opened the door to the outside, fresh air rushed into the lobby. They looked around the street to make sure it was clear of infected, and it was for the time being, so they made their advance. They walked down the street as one group in a huddle with both the pilots in the middle to better protect them.

  It didn’t take them long to reach the beginnings of the airfield, they gave a wide berth to all the bodies on the ground. So far, they hadn’t spotted a single infected person, and it seemed that the airfield side of the base was devoid of infected. They stopped behind a Humvee that had an unobstructed view of the rest of the base, Muller pulled out a pair of binoculars.

  “Looks like on that side of the airfield is the fuel depot, I can see several tanker trucks and a garage. On the other side, I see three hangars, it looks like one of them is open, and the other two are closed. We will meet at the building next to the garage at the fuel depot, with good news hopefully,” stated Muller pulling the binoculars from his eyes.

  “Ok, we will meet you at the building next to the garage,” replied Kenji.

  Kenji, with Nobuto and Kinders, sauntered in the morning sun, making sure they weren’t surprised by any infected as they approached the trucks and fuel depot. It wasn’t an effortless process since in the military, and civilian presence that had been in the base before it fell had no concern for where they had left their belongings and equipment; supplies, suitcases, and whatever else wasn’t deemed necessary to bring with them. Nothing had alerted them so far, but they were careful. Kenji’s group task was finding fuel and a fuel truck to transport it to an aircraft if Muller’s group found a working helicopter.

  They ducked behind several Humvees left along the street, and Muller’s group was right behind Kenji’s. Both groups traveled further down the road that connected the building they had stayed the night in, with the airfield. It was a short walk, and all of them stopped behind the last Humvee along the street. Only several hundred feet separated their groups and their perspective areas they had to search, but the gap left them nowhere to hide.

  Muller’s group didn’t stop and started across the open pavement. Kenji looked over at the few buildings that made up the fuel depot. One was a garage, where they maintained and stored the trucks when they weren’t in use, and the other building was where soldiers would wait in between flights. The garage had been left open, and several vehicles they didn’t need were around the fuel depot, but a few trucks parked inside the garage, that looked promising.

  Kenji began to make his way towards the buildings, walking quickly, but not fast enough to make noise. Nobuto and Kinders followed his lead; they continuously looked every direction for any infected. None came out to surprise them as they approached the first abandoned truck. Both doors to the interior of the truck were ajar, and so Kenji climbed in to see what he could find.

  He checked to see if the truck had a charge left on its battery, which to his luck there wasn’t one. Moving on from the truck the other two followed him, keeping their silent vigil.

  Kinders, broke the silence, “Hey, so you know, there should only be two or three trucks we can use. I don’t know the personal setup of this base whether they transport the fuel or if they have the tanks underground and all we would need to find then is the hoses and the rest of the equipment we would need. Judging by some of the fuel trucks outfitted with tanks on them I would say they transport it in the trucks, which will make it a little easier for us since then we won’t have to turn on a pump elsewhere.”

  Kenji contemplated, “See, I am glad we brought you along because most of what you just told me I wouldn’t have thought of myself.”

  Nobuto added his thoughts, “Well maybe we should start in the garage, I’m sure if there is a truck with fuel still in it, it would be there. Who knows maybe it will still even have a charge on the battery.”

  “Good idea, for a start of our search,” nodded Kenji.

  The building was next to the garage, but they reached the building first; the door to the building was open and the interior dark. Knowing the group would have to make sure it was clear together decided to wait until they had found a truck first. Moving past the building the group came to the garage which had four trucks inside, leaving much room for them to walk around. Kenji turned on his flashlight, as did Nobuto and Kinders.

  One truck had a cart full of parts and tools on it, with much of the truck's engine block removed. They wouldn’t be able to take that truck, so they looked at the other three in the garage. They shined their flashlights into the darkest corners of the garage, only finding one dead body in the garage. They walked over to it to make sure it was, in fact, dead; Kenji kicked it, and foul-smelling odors came forth from the body.

  Leaving the dead body where it was they approached the first truck that looked usable. Kenji shined his light into the cab of the truck; something inside the truck stopped the light. The outline of a person was evident in the truck, as was a face that turned and looked at Kenji. The infected slammed its head against the door shaking it. Kenji and the others jumped back in surprise, raising their weapons to defend themselves. However, the infected person was stuck in the cab of the truck by its inability to pull on the door handle to breach the door.

  “Shit! I wasn't expecting an infected to be waiting inside the truck for us,” whispered Kinders.

  “Neither was I, but we need to get him out if we want to check that truck,” stated Kenji.

  “How are we supposed to get him out?” Asked Nobuto.

  “Easy, we have you open the door to let him fall out and stab him in the back of the head while he's down on the ground,” replied Kenji.

  Nobuto nodded, “Alright, just be ready.”

  Kenji had Kinders stand in front of the door where he tapped the door a few times. The noise sent the infected into a frenzy. Kenji motioned for Kinders to back away and held up a countdown for Nobuto. Upon reaching zero Nobuto opened the door, giving the infected somewhere to go. The infected man fell face first to the ground just as they had planned. Kenji acted fast and placed his foot on the infected man's back, and then raised his katana and thrust it down into the man's spinal cord.

  The infected man stopped fighting to get up and went limp. Kenji pulled the blade out of the man as Nobuto hopped into the cab of the truck.

  Coughing he tried the truck, “God it smells in here,” nothing happened from the truck, “looks like this one is dead too.”

  “I guess we only have one more chance,” said Kenji.

  Nobuto climbed out of the truck and joined Kenji and Kinders, who were shining their flashlights at and around the last truck. This one was empty, with no stow away infected, and with nothing hiding underneath or around it to surprise them. Kenj
i walked up to the driver side and pulled on the handle to open the door. It was locked and unwilling to open. Kinders tried the other side finding the same problem.

  “Shit. This is our last option, and the doors are locked...search both those bodies for keys, I'll check on the tables,” said Kenji with a heaviness in his voice.

  Each of them split up; Nobuto checked the dead body in the corner, Kinders checked the infected man, and Kenji looked around the tool benches. They also came up empty and met by the open garage door.

  “Do you think they would have kept the keys inside the building next door?” Kenji asked Kinders.

  “Hmm, it seems likely they could have most bases have a checkout system, so they know who is using what. If they are in there they would be easy to find,” answered Kinders.

  “Ok, we might as well clear the building while we are inside,” said Kenji leading them next door.

  Kenji held his blade at the ready and shined his flashlight deep into the building. It had a small lobby like area with a desk towards the back. A hallway split the room on the left, and there was a closed door behind the desk. They fully entered the lobby checking hallway was clear, and it was but held two doorways, one on each side of the hall.

  Kinders whispered to Kenji, “If they do have a set of keys they would be through the door behind the desk.”

  Kenji nodded, then replied, “Let's clear out the side rooms first. Then check that room for keys.”

  “Lead the way,” Kinders said gently.

  Kenji led them down the hall and pointed at the door on the right with his light. Since the door was closed, he knocked gently on the door twice and put his ear close to the door. Nothing moved from the room, and he opened it to find a bathroom, there were a small sink and a toilet in the corner. Trash overflowed from the trash can along the wall; no one had been in the room for quite some time.

  The door across the hall was closed, and after waiting for a response from them knocking on the door, they entered. It was a lounge area; a couch faced a TV in a corner while a small kitchen with fridge and the vending machine was on the other side. The refrigerator was left open, and anything that remained had spoiled, besides it, the vending machine was broken, and someone looted all the food that was inside. A soldier's helmet and rifle were lying on a table nearby abandoned.

  So far, the building showed no signs of people or infected. However, they still had one last room to check, and hopefully, it contained the keys to the last fuel truck. Back in the lobby at the door to the back of the building, they knocked gently on the door. From within they heard a rattling of metal, but it sounded faint as if coming from deeper in the room. Kenji held a finger up to his lips as he carefully and slowly opened the door. A small window towards the top of the wall allowed the room to be naturally lit up.

  In the morning sunlight, it cast long shadows across the room, created by a storage shelf system that took up a majority of the room. The rattling metal noise came from the back corner of the room that was obstructed by the shelves filled with parts. Kenji crept down the line of racks and peered around the last one. A small metal cage holding some electrical equipment held a single infected soldier. The rattling was that of an infected soldier who was locked in the cage, trying to fit through the grating of the cage. He reached in vain towards where Kenji stood.

  Approaching the cage but making sure to stay out of the reach of the infected man he spoke, “It's ok. Just one infected man stuck in a cage.”

  With that statement, Kenji lined his blade up with the infected man's eye and plunged his sword forward into his skull. He placed his foot against the cage and pulled the blade out, letting the body fall against the cage door. It was not locked, but just latched; after unlatching it, he let the man's body fall to the ground. He stepped over the body and entered the cage, inspecting what it held.

  Inside the cage, on the wall, was a large box, and upon pulling the handle of the box found what they had been looking for. The last pair of keys hung from a hook inside the box; Kenji grabbed them as fast as he could. He wanted to make sure these were the right keys to the last remaining truck. Out of habit, Kenji shoved the body out of the way and latched the cage door close and followed Kinders and Nobuto back to the garage.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Muller had made the distance to the hangar, with Evans and Tiller right behind him. The closest hangar to them was open, and that meant it would be easy to check and clear, but more dangerous because anyone could have entered the hangar. Light streamed in from semi-clear Plexiglas that lined the top of the building. The natural light allowed them to see most of the hangar, but since it was still early morning, there were still dark areas.

  They could see crates stacked up, tools scattered on the ground, several backpacks, luggage, and various other objects lay on the ground. No sign of an aircraft was present in the hangar, but they still needed to make sure there was no infected hiding inside. They each looked around in the enormous hangar, finding no infected, and nothing that they could use to help them leave. Along the upper back wall, there was a walkway with a set of stairs that connected to a door.

  Muller climbed the stairs and walked the length of the walkway until he reached the door. He grabbed the handle and found it was unlocked; on the other side was the outside, and a walkway that connected to the other hangar.

  “I hope that door is unlocked, it would be more discrete that entering the front door if there are infected inside,” pointed Muller.

  Evans grunted, “Eh. Could be, hopefully, there isn't any infected on the other side. “

  “Only one way to find out isn't there?” Asked Muller.

  He tried the doorknob, but it only opened a little, stuck on something inside. His head hung low in defeat; they would have to bust down the door or find another way in or, so he thought. At that moment, the door burst open and six infected barged out. Muller immediately went for his knife and backed up towards the others.

  “Evans help me take them out! Quick!” Muller exclaimed.

  The first infected charged at Muller, but Muller grabbed the infected man and used both of their momentum to shove the blade into the man’s eye socket, piercing the brain. Evans kicked the legs out from underneath the next infected and brought the infected woman to her knees, jamming her knife into the brain through the ear canal. They backed up to the other hangar, allowing for some space in between them and the infected. There was only four infected left, but not much room for them to maneuver.

  “I’ll get the next one, and you get the one behind it, ok?” asked Muller not waiting for a reply before taking on the next infected.

  He moved towards the next infected which was a little stronger than he anticipated; the infected man grabbed him and shoved him against the railing. His footing barely held, but now his hands were stuck trying to keep the infected man’s mouth out of his reach. The infected man had surprising strength as Muller could feel his legs starting to wobble from overexerting his muscles. He used that to his advantage as he let himself fall to his knees and yanked the infected man forward, bringing his head straight into the metal bar of the railing.

  It stunned the infected for only one second, but that’s all Muller needed before he had his blade deep in the base of the infected man’s skull. He pulled the knife out of the man and readied himself for the next infected, and quickly glanced at Evans. She had successfully taken down another infected man, with ease, and now only two infected remained. Muller readied for the next infected; it was a woman, and she was closer than he would have liked if he had hesitated to fight the last infect this infected woman would have been taking a chunk out of him right now.

  This infected was much weaker than the previous one, and with little effort, he gained dominance and felt his blade again sink into her brain. Evans shoved the infected she was attempting to take out, trying to give her a better angle. Shortly after she also had ended the infected man, and now they were standing catching their breath. They both looked at the door
expecting their fight to be far from over but no infected emerged from within the hangar to challenge them.

  Muller took his attention to the bodies of the infected in front of him. Only one of the infected bore any symbol that they were in the military. Her combat dress stood out against the clothing of the others around her. The rest wore simple civilian clothing indicating that they were family members that lived on base or they had been civilians the military had cleared for evacuation. Muller thought about how they had all been trapped inside the hangar either hoping or expected them to be more protected, and yet they were proof that they weren't.

  “You think there is any more inside?” Asked Tiller.

  “If there are they haven't noticed us yet,” replied Muller,” But let's carefully poke our heads in and see.”

  Muller and Evans crept to the door carefully shining their flashlights around the corners of the door. The catwalk was clear from what they could see. Muller stepped in first, silently treading. It wasn't long before in the dark hangar that he spotted the rest of the infected, and what they had been hoping they would find. Two helicopters in apparent flying condition. The infected couldn't get up the stairs to them because someone had moved as many objects in front of them as possible, several work benches and tables blocked the way.

  He motioned to Evans to maintain noise control and waved Tiller inside. He watched as the infected wandered about the hangar, in all he spotted about ten to fifteen. He didn't like those numbers, but he knew they would have to clear them out if they wanted to get close to the helicopters.

  As Tiller approached Muller met him, “Do you see those helicopters? Are those the ones we are looking for, the Chinook, right?”

  Tiller nodded, “Yeah we just need to make sure they are in working order.”

  Muller led them back out onto the outside catwalk, and carefully closed the door, leaving it cracked. They moved the bodies of the infected to the sides of the catwalk just in case they had to come back through that way; they didn’t want trip over them if they had to run. It was time to meet up with Kenji's group and see what they had found and return to get help clearing out the infected. They would leave the third hangar to clear if the helicopters are not working, it would be a waste of time if they did not have to check needlessly.