Zombie Transference (Book 2): The City

by Germann, Tom

  There was a fireplace and a sitting area to the side and directly across from the door was the desk. It was centred in the room so it was the focal point and it was big enough to land a helicopter on. There were two ornate table lamps which could have doubled as search lights. One on each side of the desk.

  The Colonel behind the desk did nothing to draw the eye as he was so bland in this rich room. Behind him on the far wall were well stocked, floor to ceiling book cases. Directly behind the Colonel in the centre of the book cases was a huge mirror. That was it. Nowhere to store files or anything else. This room would have been the office for some big wig. Now the Colonel had it.

  The Colonel looked up from his desk blotter and nodded, gesturing for the captain to come over.

  It was a bit of a walk to get to the large wing backed chair. It was leather bound and big enough for two. He heard the door open then close behind him quickly while he was walking.

  The Colonel gestured at the chair. “Please have a seat, Captain. We’ll just have a libation then begin your debrief and find out how we can fit you into our organization here. I am afraid we may not be able to get you back to Canada any time soon due to lack of transport headed that way.”

  Wagner settled into the dark leather chair. This was going to be a debrief? The chair felt warm and soft even though it was leather. Expensive.

  The sergeant walked around the chair and carefully put a tray with a crystal decanter and two small glasses down. He then poured two drinks and placed the Colonels down next to the piece of paper on the blotter. The sergeant then placed the captain’s drink on a small coaster on the arm of his wing backed chair and walked back to the door.

  Captain Wagner watched the sergeant’s moves in the huge mirror behind the colonel’s desk.

  Colonel Chesterling sat stony faced through the whole thing. The sergeant stopped at the door and carefully surveyed the room as if to make sure everything was as it was supposed to be. He hadn’t saluted though when he stepped out. He had bowed very precisely then backed out quietly closing the door then moved to his desk. The shadow moving behind the frosted glass windows sat and didn’t move. He could also see Corporal Weibe’s shape sitting on the other side and his shape seemed to be fidgeting. A lot.

  As soon as the door closed the colonel smiled, transforming his entire face from gloom to good humor. “I really hate having to do the stern Commanding Officer routine but all the men expect it and the Flag Sergeant has been with me for over forty-five years and would likely shoot me if I didn’t meet the highest standard he expects from his CO.”

  The Colonel picked up his glass and carefully sipped at it while Captain Wagner watched him. The Colonel kept smiling. “Drink up Captain, no rough time in the bush now. As soon as the emergency was announced and the civilians started panicking and running away I had a detachment go to the nearest warehouses and clear them out of the good liquor. After all you can’t have a proper mess dinner or meeting if you run out of the essentials. I have all the best kept under lock and key by the Flag Sergeant. You may notice the men appear a bit down. We have been in the city trying to maintain order for the last several weeks, mm, I mean months, and as services broke down morale went down as well. So, to counter that I had another detachment pull some movies from a local movie house and there are movie nights for the men along with a small amount of liquor to help improve their mood.”

  The Captain carefully picked up his drink and sipped at it while the Colonel watched expectantly. It was a very good drink but as he sipped at it he felt like it was curdling in his stomach like milk gone bad.

  While he sipped at his drink the Colonel beamed even more. He kept talking, “Please do drink up Captain. It should fortify you so you can properly debrief me on what happened and how you came to be in the USA, greatest country in the world I might add!”

  Captain Wagner sat back and sighed while holding the small glass. He slowly started telling the story everyone had agreed to when they were in the barn. He stopped sipping the liquor and found himself sitting on the edge of the chair while he went over the last few months with the Colonel.

  The Colonel listened to the story while outside the Flag Sergeant sat motionless at his desk and Corporal Weibe sat fidgeting on the uncomfortable chair.

  THE LOADING DOCK

  E

  veryone had to keep reminding themselves of the new ranks they all had to have. Captain Wagner had headed off to his meeting with the Commanding Officer Colonel Chesterling. Before he had left he had given directions to his First Sergeant to get the troops to unload the stores as they had been directed and make sure everything was ready.

  First Sergeant Caisson had passed his orders to Staff Sergeant Vajjer who had then gathered all the newly promoted Corporals and gotten them organized into a large work crew to unload the vehicles.

  They had been careful to leave Corporal Toker fully armed, as well as Jimmy to keep an eye on the new troops and their personal belongings.

  Everyone else had slung their weapons and pitched in to work. Uncovering the military truck bed by removing the tarps took a minute, then they dropped the tail gate and checked over the load to see what had happened on the long drive to the city.

  For all the importance of the supplies they had brought in only three of the garrison troops bothered to help. In fact, after the Sergeant and two Corporals had each grabbed a small box and walked down several corridors, finally stopping and unlocking a heavy mesh door into a sizeable warehouse where they dropped the boxes off on some empty shelves, they had left. The Sergeant had grunted at the others and pointed vaguely into the warehouse calling back over his shoulder. “Just put everything over there and lock the door when you’re done.”

  Vajjer had looked at Caisson with a frown. “Nice to know their security awareness sucks. I really had the feeling they didn’t fully trust us and yet they left us with access to their warehouse?”

  Caisson nodded and looked around, “Alright everyone let’s keep unloading for now, we can talk later.”

  Looking around in the parking area they found several dollies which they loaded up. Caisson only made one more trip with them, then staying in the warehouse to see where everything should be placed. The rest of the group made several more trips before the truck was unloaded.

  Every time they arrived at the warehouse they simply loaded the items onto the first shelves they saw by the door. The entire room was lit only by a few small patches of light.

  After the last trip, Sergeant Major Caisson asked Steven to come with him and disappeared into the back. Their steps were muffled in the dark room and quickly faded away. As the group finished unloading the last few items off the dollies the two men returned. Everyone looked up questioningly. Tracy was the first to ask. “So why did you two strong men have to wander off while we unloaded everything here?”

  Both Steven and Caisson quickly glanced around the room, watching as Sergeant Vajjer stepped out into the hallway, looked both ways then stepped partially back in so he was involved with the conversation but could still keep an eye out.

  Caisson looked at Steven who just shrugged and said. “You briefed me, tell them.”

  Caisson took a breath. “There are things wrong here. Almost every soldier we saw here so far looks like shit. Their uniforms look like they were slept in and their boots are filthy.”

  Tracy glared at him. “It’s the middle of a zombie apocalypse, most of the people are dead and they failed. They probably think they’re going to die next and have given up. Do you blame them?”

  Vajjer spoke quietly from the door, “You don’t get it Tracy. These guys live in a large secure building with food, water, power, they have most of the necessities of life. They look like shit because they don’t care. These guys are REMF’s and should have spit polished boots and starched uniforms on. It’s how they roll and it gets them off.”

  Caisson interrupted him. “What Sergeant Vajjer is saying is discipline has broken do
wn here. They don’t consider themselves to be soldiers anymore. They do the drills and pretend but they wouldn’t do what is necessary if they were ordered to anymore. Didn’t you smell the booze on them?”

  Sam, Steven and Vajjer nodded, while the rest shook their head.

  Caisson shrugged. “I was posted overseas. There are times to relax and there are a lot more times when you should not relax. These guys are so far past relaxed I’m amazed most of them aren’t stoned. That’ll probably happen later. From the little I’ve heard here it sounds like the final breakdown only happened a little while ago and these guys slid a long way and quickly.”

  Sue looked apprehensive while Tracy snorted. “So what? They aren’t really soldiers then? Who cares? We’re getting on a train in a few days and leaving for a nice safe refugee centre or something.”

  It was Sue’s turn to sigh. She still looked nervous. “Tracy, do you remember when the soldiers came into the service centre and you were worried about them and how they would be acting?”

  Tracy shook her head. Sue sighed again. “I told you it was okay, they would only be rowdy if they’d been away for a while or where coming back from overseas. How many females have you seen here so far?”

  Tracy looked blankly at Sue. “Are you saying they’re going to be raping us as soon as we look away?”

  Sue looked uncomfortably around her. “Well, not at once but these are all young guys and they come across as kind of dumb. Didn’t you see how those guys at the side were watching us when we got here? There were three of them to the side, and that Sergeant said, ‘You have dames’.” She shivered.

  Tracy shook her head again. “I wasn’t paying attention, everything here is hard to focus on sort of….” She slowly stopped talking and slumped against one of the shelving units.

  Sam looked at Sue, “You mean those three greasy guys on the side who look like brothers? I saw them.”

  Sue nodded. Caisson and Vajjer had both perked up and looked at Sue. Caisson spoke first. “I know the three grease balls you’re talking about. What did they do or say?”

  Sue looked down and took a deep breath. “They were gesturing and I can pretty much tell you what they wanted to do. I can tell you now I felt completely creeped out and wouldn’t be alone with them in a well-lit room if you paid me. I could handle any one of them but they wouldn’t come at me one at a time. They’d come at me like a pack of dogs.”

  Vajjer looked at the Sergeant Major. “We don’t have enough side arms for everyone, at least not good ones. But I can give Sue my forty-five and we have a dinky revolver Tracy could have…”

  Tracy shook her head violently. “I won’t carry a gun! I don’t hurt people!”

  Sue shrugged, “I don’t think I’ll need the forty-five. I don’t think the risk will be big and we’re only here for a day or two. I think we all need to buddy up when we’re going anywhere though.”

  Caisson nodded, “I concur. No one goes anywhere alone and no one goes unarmed. If any infected somehow get in the building then we need to be able to defend ourselves.”

  There was the sound of movement in the hall and Sergeant Vajjer motioned for someone coming. Everyone stopped talking just as another soldier stepped into the doorway.

  He was a shorter soldier, very pale with a buzz cut and rings of exhaustion around his eyes. He blinked at them all. “Hello, I was supposed to check to make sure you had locked up the storeroom when you finished unloading…” He pulled himself to a semblance of attention when he made out First Sergeant’s Caisson’s rank. “Sorry, Sir! I didn’t realize who you were, Sir!”

  Caisson smiled gently. “Stand at ease soldier, we just finished unloading the last dolly and were about to lock up and head back to the garage. I’m glad to see someone coming to check up on us like a real soldier should.”

  The soldier blushed furiously and when Sue smiled at him his entire face went beetroot red.

  Caisson quickly asked. “What’s your job then, Private?”

  The soldier stammered out, “Private Kerlingen Sir! I normally secure the armory. My other job is to make sure all the stores are secured and supervised!”

  Sergeant Major Caisson gestured for everyone to leave the store room which they did. He closed the door and let Private Kerlingen carefully lock it and check the door. He smiled at the Private, “I’m glad to see you’re conscientious when carrying out your duties Private. I’ll pass it on to my Captain later. Now if you could just point us down one of these hallways to the garage?”

  The private pointed down the way they had come from, “That way, Sir!”

  The group started walking away slowly and Private Kerlingen watched after them until Sue looked back and smiled at him, at which point he turned and ran back the way he had come.

  Caisson talked quietly as they walked the corridor, so everyone else had to strain to hear him. “We got off topic. I wanted to say … I saw lots of food in the back. All the crappy army rations. Lots for a small group but when you have a larger group like this it really isn’t enough. Now we brought in a lot. But again, not enough for a group this large. I know we are all supposed to be out of here in a few days but I think this group is feeling abandoned. Every one of those shelves was full a while ago. I’m guessing the refugees ate most of it and no resupply ever came. I’m also willing to bet most of these outposts are having to feed themselves by looting locally. This all looks bad to me and I just have a bad feeling—”

  There was the sound of running feet from behind them and everyone turned except for First Sergeant Caisson who kept watching the hall ahead while one hand rested just above his holstered sidearm.

  Private Kerlingen caught up to them panting. “I’m sorry, Sir! I’m supposed to show you where you are going to be bunking down for a few days until we leave. This way, Sir!”

  The young man carefully edged around everyone and slowly started walking down the hall, making sure everyone was following him. He took the second left turn they came to. He stopped quickly and pointed up at the signs overhead at the corridor junction. “I’m taking you down to the storage room for the small parts. There’s a small office at the side the ladies can use as their room. You just need to follow the signs and you shouldn’t get lost.”

  Private Kerlingen kept walking along chattering as he went. “The entire plant actually covers almost three city blocks and includes the train access. So, if you are not careful you can get lost in here. Just stay on the one floor if you do and keep walking looking for the red fire signs. If you keep following those they all eventually lead to the garage—sort of.”

  Sue kept pace with him, trying to keep the Private talking but he would just turn red, stutter something unintelligible then shut up for a few seconds.

  Shortly they walked up to a door labelled ‘Small Parts’. There was a buzzer on the side of the door way and the door was hanging half open. Sergeant Vajjer pulled the door open noting how flimsy it was. He looked at the walls of the room and pushed on one of them. Everyone could see how the entire wall bowed then flexed.

  It was obvious someone could just push the walls down if they wanted to.

  Private Kerlingen flushed then quickly said. “The Command Sergeant Major said to put you down here for bunking. You can talk to him about changing or authorizing mattresses.”

  Sue smiled at the young man. “No worries Private Kerlingen this will do and we can talk to him later if we need to. Thank you.”

  The last was said to air as the Private had taken off as soon as Sue started talking to him.

  Vajjer looked at Sue. “Are you trying to give that young kid a heart attack? Every time you talk to him I swear he’s going to have a stroke.” He laughed, looking back down the corridor as the dust the kid had kicked up settled back to earth.

  Sue smiled. “No, just being nice to the downtrodden is all.”

  They walked into the room and looked around. Sue and Tracy went over to the office on the side while everyone else
moved around the larger storage room. The entire room was the same height as everything else on this floor at ten feet. Most of it was filled with row after row of empty shelving. Some of it had been pushed to the side. At the door into the room was a small dusty desk with a small chair behind it. Beside the one switch for the overhead lights there was nothing else there.

  Steven looked around. “They really know how to make us feel at home here.”

  Sam had found a broom in the back and was trying to sweep the filthy floor in the space between the moved shelves. “I think I would rather stay in the vehicles to sleep.”

  Caisson shook his head. “I like it less here than any of you do. I think there are some major issues going on. But. We are going to try to fit in. After all they have been fighting the infected outbreak since the beginning, we likely aren’t seeing the whole picture. Hopefully when the Captain gets back he can brief us on what the rest of the mission is going to be.” He pitched his voice to carry so everyone could clearly hear him. “Okay here are the tasks. Corporal Toker and Jimmy are looking at these vehicles right now. Sam and Sergeant Vajjer are going to head there to help. The rest of us will work together to get our sleeping area set up. Andreis, Sue and I will head back and get our personal kit out of the vehicles. Everyone else stay here and try to clean this place up a bit. When we get back we’ll see about getting mattresses and set up for the night. When the Captain gets back we work up orders then see what we are doing for the next few days.”

  Sergeant Vajjer shrugged, “Heck I’ll clean shitters for two days if it means I get on the nice clean high speed train out of here first. Then somehow magically getting home.”

  Caisson looked around, “Everyone make sure you keep your weapons on you. Do NOT put the rifles down or be defenseless. There is no knowing if infected or what the hell else is in the building.”

  INTO THE GARAGE

  W