He had given it a lot of thought. He’d be glad to be back and have all his Marines in one place, but he’d be under the thumb and scrutiny of VanAllen and all the other petty people who believed they knew the proper way to run Mount Weather and the surrounding communities. The truth was, there were only a couple of people who ran things. Abe Stark was the main one, Parvis when he was alive, his kids, and Zach. The rest of them were merely mouthpieces. Figureheads. They did a lot of talking but little else.
Zach had helped appease them somewhat. He’d appoint senators as liaisons. For instance, Bob was the Fort Detrick and Marcus Hook liaison. Connie was the Roanoke liaison. It worked out, for the most part. His thoughts were interrupted when Shooter came running down the hall.
“We’ve got problems!” he yelled.
Justin stood and faced him. Shooter was sometimes known for being melodramatic, but he seemed genuinely alarmed. Shooter answered the question before it was asked.
“We got zeds everywhere!”
Justin was about to go to the exit doors and have a look, but a sudden slamming of doors and the sounds of a lot of people coming down the corridor caused him to change his line of thinking.
“Here they come!” Shooter shouted.
“Let’s go!” Justin urged and led the way.
The other two followed Justin as he ran toward the opposite exit. Before they made it more than a couple of steps, the door opened, and zeds started crowding through the doorway. He turned toward the inner doors, which led to another hallway, some empty offices, and the stairs leading to the upper three floors.
The stairs were their only option.
They scrambled to the top floor. It was the only way to get enough distance from the onslaught of zeds. Thankfully, these were once the offices of higher echelon personnel, back before. They were designated secure rooms with heavy steel doors and oversized deadbolts. In addition, the rooms had firewalls, that is, the walls were not drywall that stopped at the drop ceiling. They were thick, composite wood that went all the way to the bottom of the next floor.
Justin practically pushed them in and closed the door, locking the deadbolt behind him. He didn’t remember how he did it, but he had apparently bumped his injured arm. Although it was healing, it was still tender and now throbbed.
“I think we need to barricade the door,” Stretch suggested.
The two men agreed and moved the receptionist’s heavy desk in front of the door.
“It’ll have to do for now,” Justin said.
“That’s great, sir, but I don’t know if you’ve noticed, we’re trapped. We don’t have any rations, no water, and only our sidearms with a limited number of bullets,” Stretch said.
“Your grasp of the obvious is what makes you so valuable to have around,” Justin said, which got a snort from Shooter.
Justin walked to the far wall where the room’s only window was located and looked out. The once vacant parking lot was now full of zeds.
“How many, do you think, Miss Keen Observer?” Justin asked.
She and Shooter had joined him and stared out the window. She was silent for a couple of minutes, counting silently to herself. When she finally responded, she was pale.
“Over three hundred that I can see. If I were to guess, there are most likely twice that number out there where we can’t see.”
“Or more,” Shooter muttered. “Game over, man.”
“Alright, let’s not be fatalistic. We’re expected back at Mount Weather in the morning. When we’re overdue, they’ll try to raise us on the radio. When we don’t answer, they’ll send someone up here to check on us. That’s the protocol and we all know the First Sergeant is a stickler for protocol. We’ll be stuck here for two days, tops. All we need to do is conserve our energy. It’ll work out.”
Stretch and Shooter stared at Justin before swapping a glance at each other. They both wanted to believe Justin was right, but the incessant banging on the outer doors did not make them any less anxious. They turned back toward the window and stared. They stared in silence for the next hour while the banging on the door continued. Finally, Stretch spoke.
“There’s something weird going on,” she said.
“What’s that?” Shooter asked her.
“The ones at the door. They’re banging on the door and carrying on like nobody’s business, but the ones out in the parking lot haven’t moved an inch this whole time. All they’re doing is standing there and staring up at us.”
“You know what I think?” Shooter asked. “I think that…”
He didn’t finish his sentence. The three of them saw her at the same time.
“Holy shit,” Stretch muttered.
The massive horde parted in tandem as one zed made its way to the front. It did not take long to recognize the identity of the zed. It was Patient Eve.
She walked to the front of the pack and then stood there, almost like a statue, fixating them with a malevolent stare.
“Holy shit,” Stretch muttered again. “Something tells me she’s not paying us a social call.”
Chapter 53 – Who the Hell is That? (Part 2)
The three of them had been trapped in the room for several hours now. Justin had been pacing for the last hour. He then tried sitting and willing himself to relax, but that did not work. His arm was hurting, and the pain had caused a headache. He glanced over at Stretch and Shooter. They were sitting on the floor on the opposite side of the room, whispering to each other. Stretch seemed to sense they were being stared at and glanced over. She looked scared.
“What’s up, guys?” he asked.
“We’re going to die in here, aren’t we?” she said.
“I don’t want to starve to death,” Shooter said. “It’s just a matter of time before we become so hungry that we’ll turn on each other.”
“Don’t worry,” Justin said. “We’ll die of thirst before we die of starvation.”
“Oh, well, that’s good news,” Shooter grumbled.
The three were silent now. Stretch and Shooter sat on the floor, brooding. Justin felt no better, and he racked his brain for the hundredth time trying to think of a solution to their dilemma. While he was thinking, he frowned and looked up.
“They’ve stopped banging on the door,” he said.
“You think they got bored and went home?” Stretch asked.
Shooter smirked and then a puzzled expression crossed his features. “I hear something.”
Stretch cocked her head. “I do too. From outside.”
The three of them stood and walked over to the single window, which overlooked a parking lot and not much else. The zeds were still there, like silent scarecrows in a cornfield. They had not moved the entire day. Neither had Eve.
“I thought I heard the sound of crunching gravel, like someone’s coming up the road, but I don’t hear any engines or exhaust noise,” she said.
“More zeds, probably,” Shooter grumbled.
Justin walked over to the window. The other two stood and joined him. After a couple of seconds, Justin pointed. “You see that? Several of them turned to look at something.”
They craned their necks to see what had captured the zeds’ attention. They didn’t see anything at first, but after a few seconds, seven vehicles came into view. Six of them were decked cargo vans with some modifications made to them, like an open turret on the top with a machine gun mounted. The last vehicle in the procession was an odd-looking box truck. It too had armor, but no gun turret. The three of them watched in fascination as the vehicles drove into the parking lot, forcing the zeds to move. They parked in a tactical formation around the box truck.
“Who the hell is that?” Stretch muttered. “And what’s up with those vehicles? I’ve never seen anything like them.”
“They don’t make any noise either,” Shooter remarked.
“They’ve got to be electric powered,” Justin surmised. “But where did they come from? I don’t know of anyone around here who drives those, and electr
ic powered vehicles have a limited range.”
“It might be the Chinese,” Shooter surmised.
“Maybe, I don’t know,” Justin murmured.
There was nothing in Clay’s report about the soldiers having vehicles. Besides, he knew of no electric armored vehicle that could travel nine hundred miles on a single charge. Unless the Chinese had developed something.
“If they’re here to save our asses, I don’t care who it is,” Shooter said. Stretch echoed her agreement.
Justin agreed too, but he was naturally wary of the identity of their would-be rescuers. For all he knew, they weren’t here to rescue anyone but to take over the place and kill anyone who got in their way.
The zeds kept a respectable distance from the vehicles, which seemed rather odd. Each turret was manned, but there was no shooting. After twenty or so seconds, a man exited the lead vehicle. He was tall and his features were obscured by a boonie hat and shemagh. He walked in front of the armored vehicle, stopped, and stood motionless, staring down the zeds.
“Who the hell is that?” Stretch asked.
“Not sure, but that’s one crazy bastard,” Justin said. He glanced over at Shooter, who was staring intently out the window. “You recognize who it is?”
Shooter continued staring intently. “Guys, I think that’s Zach,” he said.
Justin frowned and stared even harder at the figure who was staring down the zeds. The height and stature were right, but he was too far away to see anything else. After a minute, the man looked up at them and removed his shemagh.
“Holy shit, you’re right,” Justin exclaimed and waved at Zach through the window.
“Why aren’t they attacking him?” Stretch asked.
It was indeed puzzling. The three of them watched as Zach and the zeds stared at each other. Justin pointed.
“Look, each turret is aimed at the zeds. If Zach gives the word, they’ll have no problem mowing them down. They probably know that.”
“But he’s not doing it,” Stretch observed. “I wonder why not?”
As the three of them watched, Eve emerged from the crowd and walked up to Zach. She stopped when she was only a couple of feet away.
Zach appeared to be having a conversation with her, which also seemed odd. Everybody knew zeds can’t talk. After approximately five minutes, the zeds parted, and Zach was able to walk into the building they were trapped in. After a minute, there was a knock on the door and the person identified themselves.
“It’s Zach,” he said.
It took a minute to push the heavy desk out of the way and they opened the door cautiously. Zach was standing there. He was by himself and Justin thought he looked better than ever. He opened the door wider, allowing Zach to step inside.
“I never thought I’d say it, but holy hell is it good to see you,” Shooter gushed.
Stretch one-upped him and grabbed Zach in a big hug. Justin settled for a fist-bump.
“We’re glad to see you, buddy, but how did you know to come?” Justin asked.
Zach gestured toward the horde outside. “She sent me a message.”
“She? Who, Eve? Eve sent you a message? What the hell does that mean?” Shooter asked.
Zach did not explain. Nobody understood about his dreams, with perhaps the exception of Kelly. If he did explain, he’d tell them Patient Eve came to him in his dreams and told him to come to Fort Detrick.
After having the same dream several times, he decided to try and explain himself to Doc, the leader of Oak Ridge. Doc listened to Zach in silence and when Zach was finished, he asked only one question.
“Are you sure this is the best course of action?”
Zach considered the question for several seconds before answering.
“It is, for now. I’ve no doubt we will have to do something about them in the future though.”
“Alright, why don’t you take a few of the Amazons and head on up there?”
Doc was referring to their latest development, the vans that had been converted and modified. They used to be a fleet of Amazon delivery vans, hence the moniker.
Zach looked over his friends. They looked stressed and fatigued, but otherwise in good shape. “Are you guys ready to get out of here?”
“They’re going to let us walk out?” Stretch asked.
“Yeah, so, here’s the deal. I made an agreement with Eve. You guys grab your personal belongings. We’re leaving immediately.”
“No argument here,” Shooter said.
“Something tells me there’s more,” Justin said.
“There is,” Zach replied. “We’re not coming back. We’re giving them Fort Detrick.”
“Giving it to them?” Justin asked. “For what?”
“They want a place to live,” Zach said.
Justin’s expression was that of incredulity. “Are you joking?”
“Nope. Alright, we can’t delay. Are we ready to go?”
“I am, let’s get out of here,” Shooter said and hurried out. Stretch nodded in agreement. Zach then faced Justin, who was staring at him in confusion.
“I’ll explain later,” Zach promised.
He escorted them outside and pointed to the lead vehicle. “Captain, ride with me. The young man in the turret is called Radar.”
Radar peered down and gave a casual salute. He was in his late teens, lanky, with dark hair and eyes. Zach focused on Shooter and Stretch.
“You two bring your truck. Stay in the middle of the convoy.”
“You got it,” Stretch said.
Zach and Justin got in the armored van and closed the doors. All the while, zeds watched in silence.
“Alright, I have to know about these vehicles,” Justin said. “Are they electric?”
“They are,” Zach said.
“If you guys came all the way from Oak Ridge, that’s some damn good battery life.”
“Carbon-copper nanotube composite is the secret sauce,” Zach said.
“Brother, you lost me at carbon,” Justin said.
“The scientists back at Oak Ridge have created a composite that increases the efficiency of battery powered motors. We’ve been able to convert the engines in these vans. The technology enables more power and decreases power usage. Also, we created a mobile charging truck.”
He pointed at the box truck that was in the middle of the convoy. The standard box had been enlarged. It was painted a flat black and the only markings was a red radiation symbol. “They’ve taken some plutonium and engineered a powering unit. Tonight, we’ll simply plug in our vehicles and charge them up.”
“So, it’s a radiation hazard?” Stretch asked.
“The scientists assure me it’s safe, but you won’t find me standing too close to it for any length of time,” Zach said.
They swapped glances with each other, uncertain if Zach was joking or not, but none of them had any desire to get a closer look at it.
Chapter 54 – Coming Home
Justin was riding in Zach’s vehicle while Stretch and Shooter followed in a Fort Detrick truck. He watched Fort Detrick from the sideview mirror until it was no longer in sight.
“Are you going to miss it?” Zach asked.
He glanced over at Zach, who was driving.
“Are you going to miss that place?”
“Maybe a little bit,” Justin said. “It was my baby, and I was starting to make something of it.”
Zach looked up at Radar, who was manning the turret. “How’s it looking?”
“All clear and everyone is accounted for,” Radar replied.
Zach nodded and gestured at the radio. “Why don’t you give Mount Weather a SITREP, Captain. They have to be wondering where you guys are at by now.”
Justin grunted. The QRF should have responded hours ago when they did not make their hourly check-in. Norman Marnix answered the hails and acknowledged the SITREP.
“Is there a problem with the QRF?” Justin asked.
Norman explained. “They’ve been ordered to pay a
visit to Marcus Hook. They’ve encountered roadblocks along all the main routes. I suggested we respond to you guys, but that order was countermanded.”
Justin shook his head in disgusted understanding, gave an ETA, and signed off.
“Zach, since you’ve left, things have changed around Mount Weather. That’s another reason why I liked living at Fort Detrick.” He started to say more, but instead shook his head again. “You’ll see what I mean.”
Zombie Rules | Book 8 | Who The Hell Is That? Page 30
