by Germann, Tom
Caisson spoke up. “If they are so scared, and they are then they aren’t thinking about consequences. Try to order something where they feel they know they are going to die and they’ll probably kill whoever tries to make them do it. I bet most of the garritroopers here would piss themselves and cry if we tried to drive out the door with them in an armoured vehicle. Maybe after this all wraps up there will be consequences. They aren’t thinking that far ahead.”
Corporal Weibe had gone pale and gulped before looking down.
Wagner nodded at the Corporal then continued . “So, the CO has no real clue. He wouldn’t try to ship the troops outside if he was ordered to. We go. Since we are going we are now a full eleven-person company and I negotiated the best I could for us in the way of supplies for tomorrow.”
Sam was the only person who didn’t look shocked. “I thought a company was like hundreds of people?”
Wagner nodded. “Around a hundred people depending what type.”
Tracy was wide eyed and paler than usual. “They drafted us and are sending us out to die?” Her voice raised almost to a shriek on the last word.
Jimmy crossed his arms and looked down at Tracy. “Girl are you kidding me? If we are in one of those armored vehicles we are way better off if we break down. No groping hands are going to break into those steel boxes and there is enough space to carry supplies there…” his voice petered off when he saw the Captains face.
Captain Wagner began slowly. “We can only have a half tank of gas as it’s all they can spare. We get no machine guns. They only want us to take two meals with us. Personal weapons with the standard ammo load out of twenty-four rounds a day. We do get some explosives and flares. He agreed to let us keep our personal weapons like the shotguns and side arms. He expects we will be about three hours based on his time estimate.”
Sergeant Vajjer started bowing to the Captain with his arms outstretched. He spoke in a solemn voice. “Oh, bringer of bad news, is there anything else going on you can tell us that is bad? Should we be ready to fight the infected in hand to hand combat or should we just start eating dirt?”
Almost everyone chuckled except for Caisson who was frowning. “Christ Chris. Pull your shit together.”
Wagner held up a hand stopping other discussion. “It’s alright First. Things could be worse. Here is what is good. We are all staying together and not being broken up as refugees then loaded as privates into different companies as reinforcements. We get to keep most of our gear. The CO and I don’t think anyone else will be looking too closely at our stuff or how we came to own our gear. We did pillage a reserve military outpost without permission. If… WHEN we get out of here as a company I am hoping we can gather some more support troops to us. The more useful we are the better the chance of us being the core of a raised company instead of being disbanded.” He stopped speaking.
Wagner stretched then sighed. “There is worse news sort of. Every night there is a parade to keep discipline. After that, there is a dinner. Since we are in the middle of an operation the dress is not formal so we can go in field uniforms. Except for Sue and Tracy who must go in a female uniform which is a hideous looking dress. Oh, and we are not dry at all. You can get as blisteringly drunk as you want unless you are going on sentry watch from the roof. He thought it would be a good idea to boost morale as the troops may feel poorly given the harsh conditions and lack of female companionshi’ to make them less unruly.”
Sue and Tracy were both glaring at the Captain. But for different reasons. Tracy spoke first. “I am NOT going to join the army or march around with guns!”
Captain Wagner interrupted her before she could continue. “No problem Tracy. Pick who you want to marry and get the Commanding Officers permission tonight at the dinner.”
Tracy’s mouth fell open and she made a ‘gop’ noise.
Captain Wagner continued. “For the duration of this conflict if you, as a single female, want out and not to be involved at all you need to get married and work on what they call the Homefront. ALL single women are being called up as clerks, administrators, nursing assistants and so on. Women do NOT use weapons or go to front lines. You make up your mind and let me know fast. He looked at Sue. “I can see it coming Sue. What do you need to say?”
Sue shrugged, “My first thought was I was not going to be little Susie homebody or nurse those big brave, smelly boys back to fighting condition. I’ll use my first aid skills and help as I can but I want to stay with the group and I do not want to dress up like some fifties chickie like my grandmother wanted me to!”
Captain Wagner shook his head in agreement. “I fully agree with you. But we are in garrison and while the CO allowed for women having to dress for the rough environment out there, now we are here he mentioned that men’s clothing made you … mmmm common.” He stopped there and carefully watched Sue for her reaction.
Sue for her part took a while to think it through then slowly and reluctantly nodded agreement. She sighed, “I hate this but I don’t want to be mistaken for a girl of easy virtue by a bunch of scumbags, what did you call them First? REMF? It has to be nasty.” She continued, “Especially if they are all drinking at this dinner and feel like they are full of macho man stuff.”
Everyone was quiet as they absorbed all the information they had been passed by the Captain. He waited for a second then looking at Steven motioned him over and started talking to him. “Remember how you thought the government was weaker here than at ‘home’?” He asked.
Steven nodded, “And?”
Captain Wagner continued. “When the outbreak happened the first thing the corporations did was ship all their material and important people back to these protected areas. This plant was in full use and production until right after the outbreaks started. They had their people working around the clock clearing it out and the first four trains West were carrying corporate equipment and important people. Also, the government had to go to all these different big corporations to get permission to do things like calling up the Reserves which disrupted production. It just feels bad overall.”
Steven looked at the Captain carefully, “why does it feel bad?”
Captain Wagner just shrugged. “I guess I am used to the military reflecting the values of the country and people it represents. Having private, profit driven business basically laying out policy seems … strange and not right.”
Captain Wagner straightened up. “I guess the best way to put it is how this building is built.”
Everyone had stopped and was paying attention to the weird conversation going on. Captain Wagner nodded. “The outside is nice thick walls and can stand off a mob with several hard points around some of the interior which look like you could take cover behind and shoot down attackers coming through the doors. The CO’s office is in the formal offices of the building. It’s a separate building inside this building. It’s a fort. I saw vision or firing slits in the walls. Those walls are thick and the doors are boiler plate except for the bank vault entrance. You head down a hallway at every access point like an airlock to a second door. If the workers ever rioted there is no way they could get to the management. The office structure is also the height of the building and the second floor from the top is sleeping quarter for the managers. I had a chance to see the kitchen. The CO eats well compared to everyone else here. I was offered a room at the side but turned it down so I could stay with my troops. It didn’t sit too well with the CO.”
Captain Wagner looked around speaking to no one specifically. “The mindset this shows is what worries me. This factory is more like a castle than an industrial complex.” He looked at his watch then grunted in surprise. “CRAP! We should be at this dinner in half an hour. Vajjer you go with the ladies and Andreis to draw those two female uniforms. It’s a Private Kerlingen or something who will have them. Everyone else get into uniform! No rifles or shotguns, but hide those side arms.”
The room exploded into activity and everyone hurried aroun
d getting ready.
They arrived at the workers dining hall on time but the garrison soldiers didn’t show up for ten more minutes and the CO didn’t show up for five more minutes later. All the garrison soldiers knew where to sit which left one smaller table set up for eight which the group took quietly. The Captain had noticed the four seats at the head table and seeing the flag sergeant quietly standing to the side asked him quietly if those were for the females and himself. The flag sergeant nodded and they moved to the head table.
It was obvious most of the garrison soldiers had already started drinking before the dinner.
Everyone stayed standing until the CO came in. He talked for a few minutes about how important what they were doing was then talked about how the new company which had come in today was going to assist with redeploying back to a fall-back position in preparation of retaking the country. He then turned, reached into his pocket, and pulled out some rank pins which he pinned onto now Major Wagner.
Everyone sat down and four soldiers who were a bit cleaner than the rest came out and served the meal.
EMERGENCY RATIONS IN A FORMAL DINNER
S
ue sat at the head table and tried not to shudder. She should feel pride, as far as she was aware she was doing an amazing job of keeping the horrified look off her face.
Formal military dining was supposed to be formal and amazing in its own way. She had seen some movies and talked to friends.
This? This was nothing like she had heard it was supposed to be like.
They had been ushered in and Major Wagner had found them seats at the head table. A small thing with four settings and sort of clean dishes. Major Wagner sat on the far left of the table with Tracy next to him followed by the CO then Sue herself.
The old and quiet flag Sergeant hovered around the table always topping up drinks and just being there.
Sue wasn’t stupid. She had seen the way his well fitted tunic had shifted when he stretched across her once while topping up her glass. He had at least one side arm in a shoulder holster and what may have been another at the small of his back.
She didn’t know if it was there in case the infected broke in somehow or if he knew something about the other soldiers who were here that she didn’t.
Sue was sitting next to the Commanding Officer who was older than her dad would have been, aging badly and he smelled. Not as bad as some people she knew. But when the CO had put on his dress uniform he hadn’t bothered showering or even cleaning himself up before. He had dumped what smelled like a litre of cheap perfume over his head.
She shuddered inside while he kept going on with his ancient war stories about past exercises and she was trapped here for another hour.
He could at least have dumped some stronger stuff over his head.
Old Spice had a nice smell on a guy. Way better than whatever weak crap he had put on. The man’s BO was bad enough but after an hour sitting in this sweltering heat in what had been a staff canteen there was an overwhelming stench coming from the man.
It was bad enough she and Tracy had to wear a sexist female uniform from the fifties. At least it was lighter, not as restrictive as it might have been. The skirt went almost down to the ankle. The shoes had no support and were cripplers.
She was just glad the female standard had widened out a bit since the fifties. If she had to wear a pencil skirt with super tight top and a stupid dickie then she knew she would have been feeling worse.
Maybe the uniforms in stock had been for bigger girls. They did just sort of hang on them. A good thing for Sue as she was fit and built so would never have fit into the clothing she had seen in most of the local magazines. Tracy as a bone rack would have been fine but as it was they were getting quite enough attention from all the men, who had been drinking since they showed up, tonight.
She half wished Wagner had let her bring her side arms. But while the soldiers of the headquarters company were loud and making comments no one had stood up or made any threatening moves. At least not yet.
She knew men and what could happen, especially if a bunch of young guys were completely hammered and ‘knew’ how lucky a lady would be to hang out with them.
Sue was a bit put out that Wagner hadn’t been able to find an excuse for her and Tracy not to show up to this. Or at least show up in their own clothing.
The man was stuck at the far end of the table right next to Tracy as his dinner date. It must have been a conversation that just wasn’t happening.
Of course, it put this Commanding Officer between the only two women in the area. So, to the guys watching from the large tables where the common soldiers were sitting it looked like he had two women hanging from him.
Sue shuddered again.
So far, since they had walked in, this had been a damn waste of time and only stressed her out.
The entire group except for Toker who, apparently, wasn’t feeling well had stayed behind. There had been all sorts of racist comments about Toker and everyone had agreed it was a better idea for him to stay behind. He was checking those armoured trucks over for tomorrow. Checking the radios, machine guns and mounted stores against checklists.
It seemed to have made the CO and most of the troops happy.
Ten minutes after they had showed up for dinner the troops started trickling in. The first thing they all did was head to the bar and grab drinks when one of the clerks opened it up. It hadn’t really been necessary though as most of them seemed to have started earlier.
There had been some comments and nasty looks from some of them but nothing more.
It had taken another five minutes for the CO to show up all dressed up in his fancy parade uniform. In that time, the group had been able to see what most of the soldiers in the garrison were really like.
There were three groups.
The first was the clerks and administrative troops. There were only about twelve of them and they were all smaller pale men. They were shopkeepers and tellers before the outbreak and they had been called up as the reserve. They were washed up and clean shaven and their uniforms looked okay.
Then there were the six technical troops. They were considered technical because they had worked for the utilities companies before. They were three young guys who had run messages earlier and had been shown how to use the radios. Now they checked the radios and stayed away from everyone else. They were also mostly clean and one of them had some stubble and their uniforms were dirty but serviceable.
Sue deliberately didn’t look at the third group. She knew eye contact would be a mistake and lead to other problems at some point.
The last group. They were the biggest and the largest problem. Wagner, Caisson and Vajjer called them poison, and they were. They were dirty and mostly unshaven. Some of them were wearing bits and pieces of uniform and they were more like a gang than soldiers. She hadn’t seen any of them going anywhere on their own. There were always two or three of them together and they glowered at everyone. These were the troublemakers that existed everywhere. But when the unit had been sent into the city all the troublemakers had been left here in the rear so they wouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately, it was a problem now. There were almost forty of them.
Sue had seen the way they had been eyeing her and Tracy. Everyone knew about the comments that had been made about Toker and she had heard from one clerk about some of the better troops having gone over the wall. Like a Lieutenant who had been working at cleaning the headquarters company up and re-imposed military discipline. Why would such a man go over the wall?
Those scumbags had walked right over to the bar and started getting tanked at once. At least most of them had. There were five who had stayed to the side and barely touched a drink.
Then the CO had shown up.
He had been decked out in a ceremonial uniform which made him look more like a pimp than anything else. He had so many ribbons on his chest they couldn’t be real. But before he had come in there had been
a drummer.
Everyone had stopped what they were doing then the CO walked in. The goons all cheered and the CO lapped it up.
Right behind him had been the flag sergeant with a banner pole and a small flag on it. The sergeant had placed it to the right side of the table in a holder then pulled the CO’s chair out.
The CO had urged all the men to get a drink before dinner. They did.
Then everyone else sat and the torture had started.
It started okay. The flag sergeant had thanked the Commanding Officer for holding the dining in tonight. That was it. Thirty seconds.
Then the troops starting at the far table had stood up and each one had said a few words. They all thanked the Commanding Officer for working as hard as he had keeping them safe inside the building with food and water while they worked to put America back together again so they could defeat the red menace.
Sue was of the mind that none of the troops here had done anything to rebuild except maybe to build some good excuses not to leave the safety of the building with its large stockpiles of food and water as well as thick walls.
The other part of it was that if Russia, the Warsaw Pact or whatever it was called here had the same leadership and zombies. Well there likely wasn’t much of a red menace anymore. If they didn’t have the same problems the US did then if they had a quarter of a brain they sure as hell wouldn’t come here just to get infected.
Then finally the last grungy soldier had sat down.
There were four soldiers standing by the kitchen entrance with carts so it was obvious the actual meal was finally going to start. As fast as the thank you’s had been it had still taken fifteen minutes to get through everyone. Some of the idiots had been playing it up until their friends had thrown things at them.
The CO had a big smile on his face and had been glowing while everyone thanked him. Then it had hit Sue. He believed what they were saying. He was lapping it up like a starving cat with a bowl of milk. The man was an idiot.
