by Thomas Key
Contents
The Long Road Ahead:
Title Page
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine: Atencio’s Story
Chapter Ten: Ashmore’s Story
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen: Several hours earlier
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
The Long Road Ahead:
The Turning
By Thomas Key
.
The Long Road Ahead: The Turning
By Thomas Key
2019, Thomas Key
Self-Published
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or a database and or published in any form or by any means; electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
Prologue
Rachel lay in her tan military issue cot with her soon-to-be husband beside her. The man next to her was Shepherd, a man who had been, quite literally, her knight in shining armor. A gang known as the Exiles had maintained a compound on the outskirts of Tucumcari, New Mexico. The vile men (for lack of a better term) took it upon themselves to be judge, jury, and executioners. Anyone they captured either joined their group, became slaves or were crucified in a macabre facsimile of the crucifixion of Christ. She had joined on last-minute onto a scouting mission from Cannon Air Force Base, joining a small crew with the goal of flying over a wide area of the base and checking for anything out of the ordinary. Her helicopter, however, an Air Force Black Hawk, had been tampered with. Insurgents had sabotaged many of the based air assets. Not long after takeoff, their bird went down, hitting the ground hard several miles from Tucumcari. It wasn’t long before the event caused a welcome party to arrive. The Exiles were not gracious hosts by any stretch, and she was soon thrown into an old animal transportation trailer of some kind. Somehow, Shepherd, the man next to her; who had previously been missing and presumed dead in Albuquerque saved the day. Sneaking into the base under the cover of night, bypassing the perimeter patrols and eliminating the guard to their little prison. She knew that the events that actually happened were in no way that of him being a ninja, or some kind of highly trained operative. The man was unnaturally lucky, and made it all up as he went. The fact that by flying by the seat of his pants and he was still able to rescue not only her but nearly a dozen others was a miracle. She knew him as a hero, not just to her but to many in their group of survivors. He had saved many lives with his uncanny ability to get out of seemingly any jam, and she loved him dearly for it. She didn’t love him just for saving her, of course. The man was an absolute gentleman, always willing to listen when she wanted to talk, even if it was for hours on end. Even in a zombapoc, he’d hold doors open for her, and make sure she got first bite from the MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). More than that though, there was a spark between them from the very beginning that grew into a raging fire by the time he had proposed to her. Somehow, he had found the time to find a ring that fit her, and would have cost a fortune pre-end times.
Now though, her face which had briefly been covered by a look of wonder was now etched with concern. Shepherd tossed and turned every night, his body becoming covered with sweat. Early on, she had woken him up to ask him if he was alright. Every time, he denied any knowledge of what was going on and she eventually stopped pressing him. Nights like this though, she lay awake and ran her fingers through his hair as he went through another fit of nightmares. She knew that he would never admit it, or maybe he just did not remember any of the dreams. The look on his face sometimes turned to that of pure agony as if he was reliving some horrible moment in his past, over and over again. She knew though that nothing she could do or say could comfort him in his dream world. She had hoped, however, that just her mere presence, her hand on his cheek rubbing through his hair every so often let his subconscious know that she was indeed there and he was not alone. Shepherd had a mystery of a past, and that was something that everyone around him knew. He had never spoken of his past except, of course, his previous occupation which he got a kick out of telling others about. Many times, they called bullshit on him much to his pleasure. The stories that he told of his time rising up the ranks at a local grocery store from a bagger when he was fifteen years old to his position of a store manager before everything had fallen apart. Retail was hell, and he had weathered it with a positive outlook that no one could match. He had never once spoken about any family or friends, and had not allowed anyone, no matter how close to dig into his personal life. Someday, she’d figure it out though. Someday, Rachel thought to herself as she wiped what looked like a tear forming from his right eye. “I’ve got you,” she whispered quietly into his ear and watched his body relax as if in direct relation to her comment. “Forever and always.”
Chapter One
I awoke with a start, my shirt clinging to my chest with sweat pouring from me as if I had been working out in a sauna. I turned my head and saw that the angel beside me was still fast asleep. She was such a heavy sleeper, I thought to myself as I stood up as quietly as possible. I performed my usual routine of stretching, then heading down the hall to the shared restroom. Since we had taken up residence at the base, we had to get used to sharing a communal bathroom among other things. It didn't take me much time to adapt to it though. Military life was tough, and it required some sacrifice, of that, there was no doubt. Sharing bathrooms was the least of my worries in life anymore. I was much more concerned with things like zombies. Yes, zombies, the living dead. I still have no idea what caused people to get sick and die and reanimate, but I’m also no scientist. When hordes of walking zombie began to consume the country, I and pretty much everyone at this base went into survival mode. If somehow you’ve been surviving in a bunker safe and sound and don’t know about the walking blight, please send me a ticket to wherever you are so I can pretend this all is a dream. Or a nightmare, rather. As I stood at a urinal and let loose my torrent of built up liquid, the door swung open and I looked up to see Kenneth enter. “Damn dude, you look like shit,” I told him with a grin tugging at my not quite awake yet lips. He just shrugged and waddled over to the stall next to mine. “The woman’s going to kill me,” he said as he began to take care of his own business. “She won’t let me sleep,” he continued with his narrative. Men have a code of not looking other men in the eye while we take pisses or shits. It’s just against the ever present man code. So I stared straight, my eyes completely focused on the bare wall in front of me. The boring concrete with literally no character. “Is it that bad?” I asked in response. “I’m still young and in the best shape of my life and she still just destroys me,” he said, shaking his head. I barely caught the movement from the corner of my eye. I, of course, did not look over at him. “But did you die?” I said with my grin widening as I officially finished up with
a couple of shakes. If you don’t get it, don’t ask. “Can I come sleep in your bunk?” he asked, and actually turned his face to me. Thank the heavens and Jesus’ moth balls that I had finished just a moment before, therefore avoiding the violation of man code. “It’s sex dude. How hard can it be?” I shrugged as I stepped away from the stall. I heard another patter of feet as Jennifer came into the restroom and headed for her own bathroom stall. She slapped Ken hard on the ass, causing him to jump slightly. Thank God for urinals or the poor guy’s aim would have caused major spillage. Granted, this was not at all what I was expecting when I woke up this morning, but the look that he had of his hand getting stuck in the cookie jar was absolutely hilarious and well worth it. He zipped up but stayed at the urinal waiting for her to finish. “Hurry back to bed babe,” she said with a wink and she passed us by, finishing up in what must have been record time. Washing her hands and then heading back to her bunk within a few moments. He looked into my eyes and I into his. I burst out laughing. I mean a true, guttural, gut-busting laugh that shook me to my core. He just stared at me as I did my thing for a good five minutes with tears streaming down my face. “My bad man,” I said as I finally was able to regain myself. I walked with him out of the restroom and headed back towards our bunk rooms. His room came first and I waved to him as he flipped me the bird before closing the door behind him. In a somewhat jovial mode, I returned to my own room. Rachel was still asleep, and beautiful as ever. I stared for a few moments at her face, with hair covering a good one half of her soft face. I knew that in a heartbeat, that soft face could become the face of absolute death coming to claim my soul, but in this moment, it was as if God himself wanted to share her beauty with me. Within a few quick seconds, the moment was passed. One and then both of her eyes opened, one of them still hidden behind a curtain of dark brown hair. “Hey babe,” I said softly as I sat down next to her on the bunk. She simply closed her eyes in response and pulled the pillow over her head. I couldn’t help but smile. This woman was absolutely adorable. I ran my hand through her hair a few times and felt her breathing return to her normal sleep patterns.
I stood back up slowly, trying to be as stealthy as possible. My inner Ninja was just bursting at the proverbial seams. I had almost completely dressed when the building that our bunk room was in was rocked hard by an explosion outside. The residential area for the newcomers like us was built inside of one of the large aircraft maintenance hangars. Engineers had created apartment like rooms out of wood, with steel reinforcements. As we were officially a couple, we got one of the rooms on the ground floor. Single survivors were on the floors above, with ladders needed to go between the floors. A pulley system was rigged so that the upper floors could transport larger items up without having to strap the item to their back and carry it up the ladder. The smell of machinery and oil was always prevalent in the building but it sure as shit beat being outside in a tent. Rachel was up in a flash, gathering her own clothes as if she was a dancer in a well-rehearsed dance movie scene. I naturally had fallen to the ground, with one pant leg still empty of the necessary leg, and I was desperately trying to stand up to finish getting dressed. By the time that I had righted myself, and slapped the buckle on my belt, she was already throwing on her BDU and gathering her gear. Just before she headed out the door, she tossed my own gear at me and said, “Get your ass out here.” To which I diligently followed, finishing dressing as we quickly moved through the wooden halls. As we broke through the emergency door, a wave of heat smacked me head on. It was not the heat of the New Mexico day, but the heat of a burning fire. Embedded into the side of our building was what was left of one of the large drones used by the military folk here at Cannon AFB. The wreckage was still on fire, and people had setup a fire line to douse it while they awaited the base fire trucks. This was, however, not the place for Rachel and I to be just now. Our response positions to any kind of incident was along the ever present perimeter fence that surrounded the base. We were both parts of the rapid response team assigned to handling threats that were a danger to the overall base. Rifles were distributed, and all of our eyes focused on the perimeter. Sandbags had been set up to provide steady firing positions all along the fence. We stood, ready for action, the sound of sirens having arrived in the direction that we had come. The smoke of the fire turned from an active black to steady grey as the fire was put out. After 30 minutes of no action, an intercom page announced to stand down through loudspeakers set up strategically around the base. Later, we learned that the incident was caused by a malfunction in the software for the Predator UAV that had crashed into our sleeping quarters. Normally, this would not be such a big issue, but this was the fourth UAV that had been destroyed in nearly as any days. The Air Force crews had repeatedly done inspections on all aircraft before allowing them to fly every day, and the UAVs were preferred with their almost no cost fuel, and the small amount of noise in comparison to a large jet or helicopter taking off while people are sleeping. Yet like clockwork, each of the UAVs was sabotaged in some crazy way that only really smart people can understand. At this rate, we were going to run out of UAVs long before we could use them effectively. Who knows, maybe that's how they want it? I thought conspiratorially. Rachel just shook her head as she watched my facial expression show the apparently always present signs that I was thinking about some conspiracy. The narrowed eyebrows, my features showing consternation and a stare showing I was miles away at that moment. As a whistle sounded to alert us to return back to base and return the weapons, the expression on my face changed. It had turned to that of a young man in love, or so I hoped. For all I knew, I was drooling on myself. I rushed her and gave her an epic kiss, damn near knocking her to the ground. She giggled loudly and pushed me away. “Calm down there, soldier,” she said with another laugh as I stood straight up and made like a British Castle Guard. She slapped my shoulder playfully as we resumed our walk back to the residential area.
The what had once been a semi-raging fire had been since extinguished. We stood along with everyone else and their moms it seemed, to get a glance at what had been beneath the flames. The wreckage of the drone was quite the topic for discussion and with good reason. Rachel saw my face yet again contort into my conspiracy facial expression. She eye balled me for a moment before deciding to speak. “What are you thinking, Shep?” she said as I slowly moved my eyes from the wreckage over to her face. “Huh?” I said, somewhat confused. I seriously had not heard a thing. She sighed audibly. “What’s on your mind?” “Oh,” I said, taking a moment to collect my thoughts. “Since we boarded the helicopters from Albuquerque, nearly every aircraft has had some kind of malfunction. Mine was shot down sure, but what about the one you were on? What about all of the ones that were damaged before the horde attack? Now the drones are having problems. I don’t like it. I feel like someone’s messing with our toys on purpose.” She stared intently into my eyes and probably into my soul for a minute or so. She nodded then. “I can understand your logic, but do you really think someone would do that though? What’s their end game?” I shrugged, “I have no idea. I’d think that everyone would want to pitch in and help save as many people as possible. Who knows? Maybe they want to keep us contained here. Or maybe someone doesn’t want us to have tools that can be used against them,” I said sighing audibly. I checked my watch and it was now about time to get ready to go to work now. “Are you up for a quick run around the base?” I asked her. “You bet your ass I am,” she told me with a grin and shot ahead of me. “Damn it, woman, I was not ready!” I shouted to her beautiful backside as I chased after her and we began our daily exercise routine before reporting for duty and starting another work day in the dead land that was now New Mexico.
Chapter Two
“Alright ladies and gents,” my commanding officer, Dail, entered the room. He was a career soldier, crisp and clean cut with nothing on his uniform out of place or not perfectly centered. He was a soldier in his mid-20s, just a tad younger than myself. Part of me was a bit
irritated at being ordered around by someone younger than myself but I’m not ignorant enough to take real offense at it. If someone younger than me has knowledge and experience that I myself do not have, then I will digress. I had seen this young soldier rally his troops in the battle against the horde, and I knew he was the real deal. He had raised the ranks as a leader and with so low of a supply of fully trained experienced soldiers, he had been promoted insanely rapidly. “Our mission today is to recon the former basecamp of the so-called ‘Exiles’ just a ways up north. Due to the air folks having issues with their birds, we will be going via Humvee convoy. Two hummers along with one of our few Strykers will head out in thirty minutes. I want everyone locked and loaded, and ready for anything. Initial reports say those idiots are all but extinct, but we all know what they say about assumptions,” he said, glancing down at a sheet of paper on the table in front of him. “What’s that Serge?” one of the men in the room asked in question. Sergeant Dail looked up and saw a young kid, around 18 or 19 years old, with a grin plastered on his smug face. “It makes an ass out of you and me,” he said in response. A chuckle came from the 12 or so other people in the room. “Now, I have seating assignments here on the board,” Dail pointed to the white board behind him. “I know what someone is going to ask, and no, you cannot switch seats. I’m not here to baby you. I’m here to make you all work. So cut the shit and do your job,” he said, looking the young kid directly in the eyes. “Make no mistake people, because of the drones being out of commission, this is our first foray into that area since the attack. We have no real idea what we’ll come across. Stay safe, and stay alive. Dismissed,” he said with finality as we all stood to once again gather our gear.
