“My word on that.” Lieutenant Wagner nodded. “Chris, you are hereby officially released from your duty in the city militia. This shop is to be your priority every day. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir.” Chris was grinning ear to ear. “Thank you, sir!”
Lieutenant Wagner heard Marcus growling under his breath. He turned to him. “You have a problem with that, Militiaman Marcus?”
“No, sir,” Marcus said through gritted teeth, clearly lying.
“That’s a great start, Lieutenant.” Joe smiled. “Now take me to your colonel and let’s get this road trip you’re planning sorted out.”
Lieutenant Wagner hopped up from the stool at the counter. “Fantastic! Let’s get going then.”
“He comes with us,” Joe gestured at Marcus.
“You heard the man, Marcus! Get moving!” Lieutenant Wagner ordered.
As they headed out of the shop, Chris stopped Joe.
“Thank you, Joe,” he said with tears of joy in his eyes. “Thank you so much.”
Joe just nodded and then left the comic shop with Lieutenant Wagner and Marcus.
****
Joe took the chair directly in front of Colonel Flint’s desk without being offered it. Colonel Flint let the small affront slide. He knew how much they all needed the man.
“So, I hear you’re looking to make a run into the city beyond the wall,” Joe said.
Colonel Flint shook his head. “Right idea, wrong direction, Mr. Reynolds. We’ve looted all we can from what’s left of the city Cedarmark outside the wall. The party you will be leading will be heading to a nearby town.”
“Is that so?” Joe smirked. “I don’t recall agreeing to lead your little group yet.”
“But you will, Mr. Reynolds.” Colonel Flint leaned onto his desk. “I can see you’re a good man and you dang well know the blood of everyone in this place will be on your hands if you don’t.”
“When you put it like that, I guess I don’t have a lot of choice.” Joe met the colonel’s eyes. “I meant what I told your lieutenant about the kid and his comic shop.”
“Yes, I know you did.” Colonel Flint nodded. “The lieutenant told me about that. Why such interest in that shop?”
“It’s not the shop,” Joe corrected him. “It’s the hope it brings to those kids and everyone else. You can bet their parents are bloody well thankful for that shop too. There isn’t much left that’s fun and nice in this world, Colonel. What there is, we have to spend our lives protecting.”
“I couldn’t agree more, Mr. Reynolds. You have my word as well as Lieutenant Wagner’s that we will do what you have asked of us.” Colonel Flint opened the drawer of his desk, producing a bottle and two glasses from it. “Care for a drink?”
Joe shook his head.
“Suit yourself.” Colonel Flint smirked and poured himself a small glass of vodka. “I don’t usually drink either but this is … somewhat of a special occasion. We’ve been wanting to head out beyond the wall for a long time. With you leading my men out there, it’s finally possible.”
“If you say so.” Joe shrugged.
“Lieutenant Wagner will be escorting you,” Colonel Flint said, sipping at his drink.
“Fine by me.” Joe looked over at the lieutenant. Wagner nodded at him.
“Good.” Colonel Flint grinned. “He’ll be in overall command of the supply party but will defer to your experience in the field. It’s your experience with the world out there we are counting on to keep the party alive and make sure they return with what we need.”
Colonel Flint finished his drink. “I need to ask, Mr. Reynolds, exactly where are you from? I know you said you were in Whitmire when it fell but…”
“Where I am from is classified, Colonel,” Joe said.
Colonel Flint couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.
“Really, Mr. Reynolds? The world is long dead. There are no secrets that need to be kept any longer.” Colonel Flint stared at Joe.
“I was stationed at a facility called Project Ares when things fell apart,” Joe finally answered.
“Project Ares…why do I know that name?” Colonel Flint asked.
“Does it really matter, Colonel?” Joe shot back at him. “As you said, the world as it once was is gone. All that matters to us is the here and now.”
“I suppose you are correct, Mr. Reynolds,” Colonel Flint conceded.
“Now tell me about this plan of yours,” Joe said.
Colonel Flint took out his map of the region around the city and spread it on the desk, showing Joe the location of the National Guard Armory the party would be heading for.
“That’s a long way from here,” Joe commented. “I haven’t seen any running cars here.”
“We’ve got two tanks and an APC, Mr. Reynolds, as well as numerous civilian vehicles that are still functional and the fuel to run them. At least for this trip at any rate.”
“You’re gambling a lot on this run, Colonel,” Joe said.
“Frankly, it’s either this or abandon Cedarmark altogether. We simply do not have the supplies we need to hold out here if this operation isn’t successful.”
“I see.” Joe nodded. “How many men can you spare for this?”
“As many as you need,” Colonel Flint answered honestly. “As long as I am left with enough to defend the wall against the beasts’ nightly attacks.”
“I think a small group moving fast would be best,” Joe said, getting down to business. “You can keep your tanks here. They’ll just be easy targets for the beasts out there and draw those things down us. The APC though, that I can use.”
“Agreed,” Colonel Flint said without hesitation.
“As to the number of men…” Lieutenant Wagner spoke up. “I suggest we limit that to two dozen. It will leave ample men to protect the city but give us enough to really put up a fight if we are forced to engage the Sasquatch.”
“You mean when we engage the Sasquatch,” Joe corrected him. “Don’t think this run will be easy. With the amount of ground we have to cover between here and this town where the armory is at, we’ll likely end up fighting a running battle the whole way back. By then, the things will know we’re out there and you can bet they’ll throw everything they have at us to keep us from making it back here alive.”
Lieutenant Wagner didn’t argue. If anything, he looked utterly terrified by what Joe had said.
“It’s going to be a fight,” Joe added. “There’s no doubt about that.”
“Lieutenant,” Colonel Flint said, “go assemble the folks you want to along on this op. I want everyone ready to go by dawn tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir.” Lieutenant Wagner saluted and left the office.
“When this is over,” Joe said, staring at the colonel, “there will be a price for my services aside from just your word about the kid and his shop.”
“I figured as much.” Colonel Flint snorted. “What is it that you want?”
“We can discuss that, Colonel, when I make it back with the supplies you need,” Joe said, putting an end to the talk of his price. “Assuming that we make it back.”
“Fair enough,” Colonel Flint agreed. “I think you will find that I am a reasonable man, Mr. Reynolds. I won’t stiff you on your compensation.”
Joe smiled. “I know you won’t.”
His words were a veiled threat and Colonel Flint picked up on it.
“My word, Mr. Reynolds,” he said again. “Now, is there anything you will need before setting out tomorrow?”
“I’ll need my weapons and all the ammo for them that you can provide,” Joe said.
“Done.” Colonel Flint nodded. “You can pick them up here on your way out in the morning.”
Joe rose from his seat to stand in front of the colonel’s desk. “Now tell me where I can get a good meal in this city.”
****
There were numerous places set up through the enclosed part of the city behind the wall where meals were provided to th
e populace by a combination of militiamen and workers. These meals were given out three times each day. The food was lacking in quality but it was still food. Joe stood in line for his share like everyone else. When he reached the front of the line, a bearded man in a not so clean apron heaped a giant spoonful of soup into his bowl.
The breaded man noticed Joe eyeing it.
“It’s potato soup, man,” the bearded man told him. “Beggars can’t be choosers. Now move along.”
Joe took his bowl of stew and found a place to sit on the steps of a nearby building. He watched the people of Cedarmark all around him as they got their nightly meal. It was a time where they gathered and talked, a social event as much as one that needed in order to be fed and stay alive. He could see his judgment of Cedarmark’s residents, based on what he had seen of Chris and the children, was a correct one. Everyone got along. Everyone was friendly. A lot of people came up to him as he ate to introduce themselves and welcome him to the city. Joe was polite to them but ushered each away as quickly as he could. Seeing that he wasn’t going to be left alone so long as he remained where he was, he took his bowl and ventured inside the building above the steps he had been sitting on. It was a rundown place but then what wasn’t these days. The sun hadn’t fully sat yet so its dying rays spilled into the building’s lobby through its wide windows. Joe took a seat at the counter at the lobby’s rear. This building had once been a hotel and clearly people still lived within it. While poorly maintained by the standards of the old world, it was clean and sharp by the standards of the new one.
“Joe?” he heard a voice ask from behind where he sat. He shifted in his chair to see Chris and a woman who had to be his mother emerging from the stairwell that led up the floors above the lobby.
“Chris.” Joe managed a smile.
“This is my mother, Trudy,” Chris said, introducing the woman next to him.
She was in her early forties. The first signs of gray had begun to creep into her otherwise jet black hair. Trudy had sharp eyes that betrayed her intelligence. She was a small woman with a fragile quality to her. Her skin was pale with a sickly hue.
“Ma’am,” Joe said.
“I heard about what you did for my son, Mr. Reynolds,” Trudy told him. “Thank you.”
“Your son is doing important work for this city, ma’am.” Joe shrugged. “I just made sure he could keep doing it.”
“It’s bad enough to have one son up on the wall,” Trudy said. “I never know if Marcus will be coming home in the morning after a shift on it or not.”
Joe understood what she was saying. He had been a parent himself once. That thought hurt. He pushed it from his mind before the memory could come flooding into it.
“I hear you’re going to be leading a party outside the wall,” Chris said and Joe was grateful for the distraction.
“News travels fast around here, huh?” Joe smirked at Chris.
“It’s a small city.” Chris chuckled.
“That and Marcus is going to be part of the group you’re taking, Mr. Reynolds,” Trudy said. “Could I ask you to look after him out there, Mr. Reynolds?”
Joe stared at Trudy and felt bad for her. He didn’t care for Marcus at all. Marcus was the opposite of Chris in just about every way possible based on the few encounters Joe had with him. Still, Joe didn’t feel like he could just say no.
“I’ll try,” Joe answered reluctantly. “I won’t lie. The trip out there…” Joe gestured toward the wall, “It’s going to be dangerous for everyone who is a part of it.”
“I realize that,” Trudy said. “That’s why I am asking you, Mr. Reynolds.”
Joe grunted and shoved a spoonful of soup into his mouth.
“I am sure Joe will do all he can, Mom,” Chris assured her.
“Thank you,” Trudy said to Joe and then tugged on Chris’s arm. “We had better go get our share of the food before it’s all gone, Chris. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Reynolds.”
Chris waved goodbye at him as he led her away out of the lobby.
Joe sighed. He really didn’t like people sometimes. They were often as much of a problem as they were a blessing these days. Finishing up his potato soup, Joe left his bowl in the lobby and exited the building through its backdoor. He wanted some time alone to clear his head and going out the back allowed him to escape the crowd gathered for the meal being offered out front.
****
The morning came faster than Joe would have liked. Part of him wanted to just get the whole mess he had been dragged into over with but mostly he was still looking for a way out of joining the group heading out beyond the city’s wall. It wasn’t his fight and deep down, Joe wanted no part of it.
He collected his gear and weapons from Lieutenant Wagner and the two of them walked to the gates of the city together. Waiting for them there was the city’s lone APC, a jeep, and two civilian trucks. Gathered around them were the men that would be going out with them including Chris’s brother, Marcus. Joe saw Marcus shoot him a disdainful look as he and the LT approached the vehicles.
“You ready for this, Joe?” Lieutenant Wagner asked.
“Are you?” Joe shot back at him.
Lieutenant Wagner changed the subject instead of answering him.
“I want you riding in the APC with me,” Lieutenant Wagner said.
Joe shook his head. “No thanks on that. That thing could easily turn into a death trap if we run into trouble.”
That comment shook the lieutenant though Wagner did his best not to show it.
“I’ll ride in the jeep,” Joe said, the tone of his voice making sure that the lieutenant wouldn’t argue with him over it.
The men were a strange lot. Most of them appeared to be militiamen like Marcus with only a few real soldiers scattered among their ranks. Apparently, the colonel was keeping men he could trust in the city while letting the volunteers do the dirty work outside the wall. It made perfect sense to Joe. He was no stranger to how things worked in the world since the fall of man from the top of the food chain.
The fellow who was assigned to drive the jeep was named Kennedy. He introduced himself to Joe with a sincere smile. “Glad to riding with you, sir.”
“Don’t be,” Joe said. “And don’t call me sir either. Joe will do just fine.”
“Roger that, Joe.” Kennedy smiled.
“You’re retired military, aren’t you?” Joe grunted.
“Is it that obvious?” Kennedy asked.
“To me… yeah,” Joe answered. “What branch?”
“Air force,” Kennedy said.
“I bet you miss it.” Joe got comfortable in the jeep’s passenger seat, arranging his weapons and gear as he needed them.
“Every day.” Kennedy’s voice was filled with sadness.
Joe put Kennedy’s age at somewhere around fifty. He had all the signs of being a once career officer. Joe didn’t inquire what rank he had been when he retired.
“Here we go,” Kennedy told him as the city’s massive gates parted to allow the small convoy through. Lieutenant Wagner’s APC was in the lead with their jeep behind it. The two trucks brought up the rear. Wagner had given Joe a radio so that they could stay in constant communication. Joe kept it at the ready. He figured the lieutenant would have plenty of questions for him along the way. They had already settled on the fastest route to the armory they were heading for but the entire trip was a risky one and his whole point of being a part of it was to offer guidance to Lieutenant Wagner.
The convoy rolled out of the city at the crack of dawn.
Joe didn’t normally smoke but he desperately wanted a cigarette right now. He looked over at Kennedy.
“You got a smoke, man?” Joe asked.
“Sure.” Kennedy nodded, his hands on the jeep’s wheel and eyes on the road. “They’re in my jacket pocket. Just reach over and help yourself.”
Joe did. He lit up and took a long drag from the cigarette he perched between his lips.
“Heard you have b
een surviving out here a long time by yourself, Joe,” Kennedy commented. “How in the frag did you manage it?”
Joe didn’t have a real answer to that question. At least not one he was willing to share with someone he had just met, no matter how likable Kennedy was.
“Luck, I guess,” Joe said, fluffing Kennedy off.
“This is my first time out of the city since the fall,” Kennedy admitted. “That’s pretty much the case for most of us I reckon.”
“Just keep your wits about you and you will be fine,” Joe assured him.
The convoy reached the closest of the main roads leading away from Cedarmark and picked up its speed. Joe was surprised that the Sasquatch hadn’t already made a move against them. Likely the monsters were scoping things out and trying to make sense of the situation. The things weren’t used to seeing vehicles anymore.
Joe wasn’t used to riding in one either. It made him uneasy to be so out and the open. The sound of the motors of the vehicles in the convoy would be like a beacon in the darkness to any beasts that were lurking in the nearby woods. There was no way that the things wouldn’t hear them though. Joe figured most of the beasts in the area were already watching the small convoy with great interest.
The abandoned and wrecked cars on the road kept the convoy from moving faster than a steady forty-five miles an hour. Any faster than that and it would be impossible to dodge them safely, even with Lieutenant Wagner’s APC in the lead.
“Want some music on?” Kennedy asked.
“Why the frag not?” Joe mumbled, not really caring one way or the other.
Kennedy reached down to turn on the jeep’s stereo. Don’t Fear the Reaper by the Blue Oyster Cult began to blare from its speakers. Joe found the music an odd choice but didn’t comment on it. He kept his attention locked on the trees along the sides of the road, watching for any signs of the Sasquatch.
The convoy was about two hours out from the city when the first attack finally came. It was a half-hearted effort by the monsters. They had pushed a couple of cars together in the road ahead of the convoy and waited there as its vehicles approached their makeshift blockade. The APC had a .50 caliber mounted on its top. The weapon’s gunner let loose on the Sasquatch gathered around the cars, cutting them to pieces. Their bullet-riddled and torn bodies collapsed to the asphalt only moments before the wedged-shape front of the APC rammed into the blockade they had set up and pushed it apart. The other vehicles followed it through without any issues.
Night of the Sasquatch Page 5
