by Germann, Tom
The Sergeant had explained how the front door to the house was closed but unlocked. Inside, the house smelt like death. There had been nine people in the family according to a picture over the dining room fireplace mantle. It looked like the flu had hit hard and five had come down with the illness. One person had bite marks. All six had been shot in the head and left where they lay. Someone had gone through the house quickly and cleared out supplies. Other pictures showed the family with a car and pickup truck. It looked like the potential survivors, a young couple and a young girl who looked like she was almost a teenager, had put the infected down, packed quickly and left. There was no power in the house and the bodies looked like they had been there for a while, but it was hard to say for how long.
While the Sergeant had been talking, Private Toker had drunk a bottle of water then walked to the front of the vehicle where he promptly threw up. He came back right after and apologized. He wasn’t feeling sick now, but the smell in the house had gotten to him. A smell like rotting sewage and it was stuck in his nose. It’s a smell we all know and none of us will ever forget.
The bunkhouse was one large room with bunkbeds and a small kitchen to the side. There was no washroom. It looked abandoned and was likely only used for seasonal help in the summer and fall for harvest. There was only one way in and out and three small windows. Not an appropriate choice to hole up in, in case more zombies came from somewhere or if the horde behind them caught up.
This left the barn as the best choice for them. But it had needed to be cleared first although it looked like it had been sealed up for a while and unless other zombies had come along all the family was likely accounted for so it should have been clear. It was.
The four had finished their drinks, picked up their weapons and started trudging toward the barn. Even though it was early evening there were still a few more hours of sunlight and the intense heat was continuously beating down on everyone tiring them out. Getting into the shade was a priority.
Everyone else got back into the vehicles and locked up again just in case. The four soldiers had circled the barn and discovered a pedestrian door close to the rear sliding door and had gone inside locked and loaded but not before hammering on it and waiting for a response.
They had entered, cleared the building and found nothing but farm equipment. A large main floor had a harvester sitting by the back door and not much else. There was a work bench against the back wall with a small room next to it containing different liquids in unmarked containers. On the opposite wall were two stables that had not been occupied for a long time as they were cleaned out and used for storage. There were chains and other equipment hanging on the walls around the room. Upstairs was a hay loft, mostly empty but for some stored furniture and baskets.
There was no basement.
Checking the doors quickly they realized they could be secured from the inside. The smaller door couldn’t be locked the same way but they could jerry rig something to hold it.
They had opened the rear doors and been able to push the harvester out. The squealing from both the door and the machinery was loud enough to be heard in the still running vehicles. The four closed the rear door and secured it from the inside. They then went back over to the vehicles and everyone joined them again.
The plan had been discussed to pull the vehicles inside with the army truck going in last given its size and height. The outside doors would not be chained up from the outside in case something happened and they needed to use an alternate exit. Everyone agreed and the vehicles were carefully loaded into the building in order. The cars backed in first, parking close to the work bench. Then the station wagon and pickup had been parked on the opposite side. Finally, the military truck was backed in. It had been tight but there was still enough space for them to get out and move around.
After they had closed the door and secured it with some of the chains they had found they had gotten to work setting up.
Jimmy had popped the hoods of the vehicles to check them over. A blown hose, clamp or other normally minor problem would be a major problem for them as, if they lost a vehicle, they lost supplies and the ability to move everyone easily. The problem was made worse because the hoses and clamps were in poor condition. Jimmy identified several in need of replacement before they left in the morning. Two hoses were cracking and starting to leak.
Corporal Vajjer was getting help from Weibe and Andrei to use some chain and lengths of two by four laying at the side of the building, to secure the man door from the inside. There were no windows on the main floor just small shuttered openings high up and small enough so it would take a lot of effort and make a lot of noise to open them.
Private Toker had gone upstairs with Sergeant Caisson and they were looking out the small windows checking out the surrounding areas for threats. The open flat rolling fields did not offer a lot of cover for anything to sneak up on them. The few trees put up by the owners as a windbreak were not so thick as to be impenetrable. Other humans might be a problem late at night when the moon was down but the zombies seemed to be missing any stealth.
Tracy was sitting in the back seat of the car silent and quietly playing with her phone ignoring everyone around her. Sam and Susie had both made efforts to talk to her but she just ignored them. They left her alone.
Steve had been talking to Warrant Wagner about how to set up for the night. The argument was sleep upstairs on the hay or sleep in the cars all locked up. The final decision to sleep in the cars had been made just in case something went wrong. But it was close. No one was going to sleep well in a stifling car and everyone knew it. But the thought of getting out fast when something went wrong was too strong after everything that had gone wrong in the last few days.
Sam had wandered over to help Jimmy check the vehicles and Susie started pulling out the coolers and assemble food for everyone.
Sergeant Caisson came downstairs and grabbed some tools from the work bench so they could put in small spyholes upstairs instead of having to look out through the windows.
As they finished off their work they helped each other out then started working with Susie to prep the barn for themselves for the night.
The farthest stable was used as a washroom with some old buckets being set up inside, then Corporal Vajjer set up a ‘grunt stick’ and covered one bucket’s edges with some burlap he had found for the women.
When the makeshift washroom was set up, food was laid out and everyone was gathered except for Private Andrei and Weibe who were upstairs on watch it was time for the debriefing.
Steven had stood up. “Okay everyone. I’ve being talking to Warrant Wagner and the soldiers have run with this from the beginning. They provided the leadership and kept us moving and working toward one goal. Now, from the beginning they’ve been accepting our input in areas where we have strengths. Like Jimmy and Sam checking vehicles over. I think the best thing we could do for the next while is to carry on as we have been. When we have time, we are going to talk stuff over and we aren’t all in the military. But we need to survive and I don’t think we as civilians could easily all go in one direction unless someone leads the way. Does anyone have a problem or issue?” Steven looked over at Tracy while asking.
Tracy put her hand up. “I do. We are doing okay right now, but I think just blindly following the military mindset is bad. Why can’t we do this by council or vote? I mean it may not even be necessary for anyone to be in charge as there must be aid organizations ahead in the city helping to end this plague….”
Warrant Wagner stood up and looked at Steven. “Am I okay to answer this?”
Steven had nodded and gestured for him to go on.
Warrant Wagner sighed. “I understand you don’t like the military or large government organizations. But every soldier is taught there are different leadership styles depending on the type of situation you are in. If this were a domestic operation or something like a flood then it would be easy. We would start doing the bas
ics to make sure people are safe and civilian leadership by committee could be used. Soldiers just get the tasks they are given, done. In this case, we are in a serious, life-threatening situation. There is no time to vote on a lot of stuff or discuss it, at least not right now. There is choose a path and follow it. Everyone pulling together is the best way for everyone to survive. When we get to the city if the authorities have this in hand then I will be glad to work in the larger organization. It means a split-second decision I may have to make now which could end up getting someone killed will be someone else’s responsibility.” He paused while he looked at Tracy, his face looked incredibly sad for a second then the mask he always seemed to wear dropped back into place and he continued. “I think when we get there we will find out they are really fucked up and are at best holding on and at worst they are losing to the zombies.”
Sam straightened up from where he had been leaning against the bumper of one of the cars. “I think we keep on as we have been. There wouldn’t have been deaths if we had all just followed orders and I don’t want to have to make the decision. I can’t forget what happened back in town….”
Tracy stamped her foot. “Well, if they had told us there were zombies in town no one would have gone!”
Corporal Vajjer laughed. “If we had said there were zombies then any sane person would have locked us up and done the exact opposite of what we said. There was no real proof just the feeling and a little evidence that things had gone horribly wrong.”
Jimmy called out. “We follow orders and get the job done. If the city is safe we’re safe. If the military is in charge then I guess it will mean we all get drafted anyway. So, let’s move on okay?”
Everyone had agreed with Tracy nodding reluctantly.
Jimmy stood up and started wiping his hands on a rag he had stuck in his back pocket and started pacing back and forth. “Okay everyone, I’ve gone over all the vehicles and Sam helped me out. That there army truck could probably drive halfway across the country. It’s the best vehicle we have. The pickup truck is a close second and is doing great. The owner spent some money on her parts I tell ya. Station wagon is tough and is holding up okay. She just needed some maintenance and she’ll be good to go tomorrow to the city and beyond. The cars though are a different story. I ain’t never seen anything needs so much maintenance. The one car is doing okay. I mean I had to change out two clamps and use some tape on one of the hoses but she should be good no problem, at least for a little while. But our friendly neighbourhood troubled car.” He patted the hood affectionately. “Well she needs a lot of special care. I had to change out four clamps which were in pieces and two of the hoses had cracked and they had looked good before we drove off. She’ll get us to the city, at least I think so.”
Jimmy put the rag back into his rear pocket and crossed his arms.
Sam straightened again, “I gotta agree with Jimmy. But the car, I tell you it must be a lemon. I don’t think it’ll make it to the city. Maybe not even to the suburbs. Everything is just breaking down on it and fast.”
Sergeant Caisson shrugged from where he was sitting on a stool he had brought down. “So, we cross load the important stuff and if it breaks down, we leave it. Just need to figure out who goes to what vehicle now.”
Steven stayed sitting in the chair he had pulled out of one of the stables. “Should we leave it here then and just carry on as we are? I mean what if it breaks down on the road?”
Jimmy had nodded. “Well, I figure the driver will know when she’s gonna break down. If we cross load everything now it becomes way more uncomfortable for everyone. Keep driving and at least we’re not sitting on each other’s laps.”
Warrant Wagner ended the conversation. “Cross load the important stuff and everyone in the car only has their small backpack with their personal stuff with them. At least you won’t be defenseless then and will have food and water for a while.”
Sergeant Caisson started talking when it appeared no one else was going to continue. “During daylight hours, we’ll have a sentry upstairs. We punched a few small holes through the walls so we have peepholes. It’ll stop us having to look out the windows and hopefully keep them from being spotted. The only problem I have is we all agreed to sleep in the cars and stay buttoned up. I get it, but then how do we mount a sentry?”
The Warrant gestured for Caisson to continue. “If we have people upstairs they can pull the ladder up and secure it easily enough but then we have one or more people upstairs who are not going to be rested tomorrow and if anything happens and the vehicles just drive away, we have people left behind, or they have to jump down onto vehicles as they pass. That’s the fastest way to twist or break something. If we don’t mount a sentry then the zombies could surround us, or, and I doubt it, but if there are hostile survivors in the area they could take us. So, what’s the plan?”
Corporal Vajjer put his hand up. “I can answer. The small door at the back is now chained shut from the inside. The rear sliding door has been wedged shut as well as chained and would take a bit of work to unlock with some tools. The front door is also chained shut and we have stuff jimmied in there to block it. We’re all standing on a concrete pad which goes out past the edge of the building so nothing would be able to come at us from underneath. We can close the doors and windows upstairs and bar them with the storm bars that are up there. The only way someone could get in would be if they broke through a wall or door and this place was well built and maintained.”
Corporal Vajjer paused and took a drink then continued. “Now, if the bad guys pulled up with weapons and start a fire fight? Then we’re screwed. Any heavy weapons or even these rifles will blow holes right through the walls. I don’t think it’s really a problem though … I think we are as secure as we can be without concrete and sandbags.” He leaned back against the vehicle and grabbed a sandwich which he crammed into his mouth.
Sergeant Caisson stood up, “I thought about a couple of ways of running sentry and some of our other biv routines we need to establish here. This is what we call a ‘hide’. We are hiding here and want to stay hidden from everyone for now. So, we all should remember certain things. We must keep the noise down so if you want to talk, keep it down to a whisper. Noise travels further at night so QUIET is the word. The next is light. When it gets dark we are not going to use white light. Those flashlights and headlamps from the centre mostly have red light settings. Use those and if you need to walk around shine the light down at your feet NOT around you. This barn is well made as they get some nasty winters here, so there are not a lot of chinks in the walls. Better safe than sorry though. The plan is, we shut down when it gets dark and everyone gets whatever sleep they can. Everyone hits the ‘washroom’ now and gets it out of their system. If you gotta go in the middle of the night then you must wake up someone in the vehicle with you and they stay awake until you return. You will also not slam doors or use white light. The actual ‘sentry’ is more like a picket and the idea is not to shoot but to wake everyone up, quietly. Everyone gets an hour. Car doors are closed and locked and no one is moving around. Lead vehicle does their watch then will use the radios we have and call back to the next vehicle. One person in the vehicle should sleep cuddling the radio so you catch the message as it gets passed back. Every vehicle has the list of who is on so last person calls back to the next via radio. If you do not have confirmation then you wake someone in your vehicle and go back and wake whoever is up next. If something starts breaking into the barn we should have enough time to get out and either fight or drive off.”
He paused and looked around, “you smokers need to have a last butt before bedtime. If you must smoke I want you to use the other stable and sit down on the chairs there or squat or kneel or whatever. No one should see the light or smell it but we want to be as careful as possible. Clear?” He looked around and a few people nodded. The Privates and Corporal Vajjer said “clear”, “affirmative” and “yes Sergeant.” The Sergeant sighed and looked around
again. “When military people say clear it means they want you to state you understand what is going on. It means less confusion and things are done right. So, is everyone clear?”
Everyone sounded out ‘clear’.
The Sergeant nodded and walked over to where the food was laid out and grabbed himself two sandwiches before walking back to his stool, sitting, and eating. He ignored everything else going on around him while he devoured the food.
Warrant Wagner had stood up. “Okay are there any other points? Or can we finish the big points and take some down time before racking out?”
Susie stood up from where she had been sitting on the running board on the military truck. “I sort of have a complaint.”
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Susie.
Steve cleared his throat. “Susie you’ve done a fantastic job so far. What’s wrong?”
Susie stayed where she was and spoke clearly. “Everyone here is equal and in the same boat. I am not here to play den mother to everyone by preparing food and cleaning up. Nor will I dress up and be smiling while the men go off to do dirty or dangerous work. I can use firearms and have lots of time on ranges doing all sorts of shooting. I’ve done paintball and loved clearing as well. While I was given a rifle like everyone else I haven’t been used for much yet. I want it to change.”
Warrant Wagner nodded. “That’s my fault. Anyone who is in the military for more than a few months knows stuff gets delegated and I am in charge as it were. What happened before was I used the people who do this and have trained for this in past. It will change. So, every meal we’ll rotate from now on. Same with other tasks as they come up. My only point of concern for clearing buildings is we use those who are trained for now and everyone else is backup, at least until they learn. For tonight after we eat though Sergeant Caisson is going to take everyone through weapon handling drills on these rifles. You were just given them, shown how to load and shoot them and not much else. So, everyone will take half an hour and I and Corporal Vajjer will assist. Clear?”
