by Germann, Tom
Wagner noticed the watchtowers were different here too. They stood about fifteen feet high and were independently complete structures. There was a door into the watchtower and he guessed the way you climbed to the top was inside the tower itself. The closest tower looked like it could hold six men easily upstairs. He wondered how they had manned the four large towers constantly or if they were just there for looks.
Caisson came back out. “Inside looks clear. There are no lights on but there are tons of skylights and when they left they cleaned up. We’re good to go.”
Major Wagner pressed the walkie talkie switch. “You guys are good to go. We’ll call you when we are ready so swing closer occasionally so you can pick us up.”
The lead vehicle revved up, dropped into gear, and slowly drove off followed by the other three. Vajjer had quickly chained the front gate shut again and the three men moved into the huge building.
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE
T
he inside of the slaughterhouse was well lit by the skylights he’d mentioned.
When they walked in the door they were in a large vestibule the company staying here had reinforced. The glass windows leading into the offices had been covered over with sheets of plywood. The door further into the building had also been reinforced with plywood and metal bars.
The door into the main building was open and when they walked in the three saw the amount of work the missing company had put into the building.
Outside the convoy quickly drove away from the building and circled back on a secondary road. They were heading back the way they had come and it was possible to see the horde shuffling along on the route they had followed on the drive in.
They stopped at a cross road idling then used the horn to get attention. It was a pitiful squeak which must have been used for driving in built up areas or perhaps for reversing. They could barely hear it inside the vehicle over the sounds of their engines.
The next trick was to place the vehicle in neutral then rev the engine.
It worked. The walking dead slowly turned and started walking toward the stationary vehicles. They began advancing faster when the lead vehicle started shifting gears with a loud clash of grinding metal.
The three vehicles drove away drawing more and more of the undead after them. In the last vehicle, Private Henry gulped and gripped the hand holds tight careful to keep his hands away from the machine gun’s grip. He didn’t know how to use it and he didn’t want to make a mistake. The thought of all those people coming after them, him. Hungry to strip the flesh from his bones made him shake. He had seen it before.
The convoy picked up speed and drove away toward the local residential areas.
Only a few of the dead stayed in the area wandering aimlessly, confused by the echoing noise.
Back in the main building the three men were trying to figure out what they were seeing.
The company had completely stripped and washed out the building. There had been organized sleeping spaces, dedicated offices, and classrooms. Every exit door on the main floor was secured. Most would take major effort and tools to open.
Every other outpost they had come across so far had been temporary and meant for a relatively small number of personnel. This site was set up for the long term, well developed and had clearly held a much larger garrison. Doing some quick calculations, they estimated at least a hundred and fifty personnel. Probably more.
In the back was a workshop where the vehicles had been stored, driven in through one large vehicle door. Again, a quick estimate was eight buses and several military trucks. Every other location had held maybe six vehicles total. There had been almost twenty here.
None of it made any sense.
They hadn’t had time to go through the offices to the side of the building. Instead they had found a staircase which took them up toward the ceiling. There was a mezzanine around the outer wall and a door out which took them to an external walkway connected to the building next door and looked like it carried on to other buildings. They walked the path and discovered they never had to go to the main floor in the other buildings and in most cases the metal stairs up to the walkway were on a pulley system that could be raised and lowered as needed.
They had moved down to the last building in the row. They were now four buildings away from what was the main camp for the Patriotic Guard.
The building itself was mostly a large tub or drain on the inside. There was a section with a raised conveyor belt with meat hooks underneath. It looked like the animal carcasses would hang on the meat hook and slowly cross through the building. Workers would then gut the animals and throw the guts into the huge tub which sloped toward the back and what looked like a huge grinder.
It looked like the Patriotic Guard had used it for something similar. There were bodies all over the ‘tub’. Most of them had extreme damage to the head from what they could see from the skylights. No one talked and no one moved around to go inside the building.
The three men just looked at one another ashen faced holding their hands over their noses against the putrid smell and batting away the buzz of flies with the other. They turned and walked away. Vajjer was the last to leave, staring intently inside into the depths of the vat.
They made their way back to the main building and went downstairs. To the side was a large washing area with sinks and open showers set up.
Wagner went inside and tested the water. When it came out cool he carefully cleaned his hands then considered drying them on a towel hanging there before reconsidering and just wiping them on his shirt.
They moved toward the offices at the far side.
The soldier’s area was well maintained. The officer’s area was in even better condition. There were several posters on the wall and a huge blackboard pinned with different lists. Reviewing it, they could figure out duty lists and other information which any unit uses.
There was even a company list along with stores. There had been one hundred and eighty-four troops in this location. Almost three times what every other outpost had.
So, the Patriotic Guard was a unique organization separate from the ‘normal’ military. They had more equipment and personnel.
While they were going through the company commanders desk they also found some draft orders crammed away.
Wagner read the paperwork then passed it over to Caisson then Vajjer to read.
“Okay, I read it. What do you get from what it says?”
Vajjer looked at Caisson who shrugged and nodded for him to go on. “Well sir, I love saying sir, you seem like such a sir type.” Then he paused and the normal smile left his face. “Seriously? These guys are bad news. I don’t know how it could have gotten so bad. They carried out a ‘recruiting drive’ from the other companies at the outposts stripping them of soldiers they needed. They get ready to bug out because they don’t like the CO and he is an idiot but they just left and it kind of sounded like they were the raiders who took out the other outposts. The bit about ‘undesirables’? Scary. I find it hard to believe an entire company would be like that then just leave.”
Caisson was flipping through some of the papers again then ran a hand through his stubbly hair. “I think they did it all and more. These guys are fanatics trying to follow something which probably doesn’t even really exist. They took the infected and executed them in the slaughterhouse we saw. There is a reference to breaking the grinder because it wasn’t used to such heavy use. What if the infected blood leaks out and hits a water table? Shit. They talk about hooking up with a convoy. I think they made friends with the armoured convoy commander and when they all realized the CO was an incompetent fuckwit they all just bailed out. They just left behind everyone who didn’t agree with them and slaughtered a bunch of them at the different outposts to cover their tracks in case the good guys win here. These guys are the worst of the worst. If they were ruthless, sure. But if we run into them and they think we are going to be a problem or they jus
t don’t like us? They’ll cap us in a second and dump the body at the side of the road.”
Wagner nodded. “Yupp. We have to head back and be careful about what we say about them. After all we don’t have any evidence, at least none that would stand up in a court. Part of me says Sergeant Tannis and his friends just aren’t hard core enough for the Guard but they would sell us out to them in a second if they could. Let’s do a last sweep then get out of here.”
They moved throughout the offices again and checked every drawer and locker but nothing was left.
At the back of the offices was a briefing room. It was a small set up which looked like it had been a lunch room before. On the far wall was the blackboard which held most of the information about the unit’s layout.
Vajjer walked over to the blackboard and started looking it over. A second later he grunted. “I thought so!” There was a click and while the other two men walked over to where Vajjer was he had walked to the far side, there was another click then the blackboard rotated forward.
On the back of the blackboard was a crude map of North America surrounded by notations and unit symbols.
All three men stopped and stared at it. Vajjer pulled out his cell phone. “Thankfully my camera still works.” He started grabbing pictures of it.
Wagner nodded, “Good idea. I have a feeling the Patriotic Guard has some bigger plan in place. It looks like all the companies out there pulled pin and headed for whatever those are.” He pointed at a series of stars around a large square in the centre of the US.
“There are four points around the square. So, this company and several others are heading to those locations. Maybe some sort of rendezvous point? There are,” he took a second counting, “twelve units moving there from the East. A lot of troops.”
Caisson was chewing his lower lip. “Looks bad. These scumbags steal any troops that’ll go with them. Raid the other locations, killing their own troops, then bug out leaving the survivors to figure it out on their own. Then they are going to hook up with lots of their buddies back past some sort of defensive lines? Sounds like they are either planning a coup or setting themselves up as a master race in their new land.”
Both men looked at Caisson questioningly.
Vajjer spoke first. “That’s kind of negative, isn’t it? There may just be a few bad apples. It’s not like we’re looking at gestapo torture devices all over.”
Caisson looked at the other two. “Really? This looked like a death camp to me. Did they only destroy the dead or were they killing the infected? Did they raid and kill the other outposts then bug out without telling anyone? They could have helped turn the tide here. They have a higher level of training then the normal soldier and better equipment from what we were told. They could have made a real difference here. But they left for there. They aren’t looking out for the citizens. They’re looking out for themselves.”
Wagner slowly nodded agreement. “We need to go.”
The three turned and made their way back to the front of the building.
As they came into the final room before they headed outside they paused and tried to raise the convoy.
The first few times they tried there was only static. The static quickly resolved into a faint voice. “We are maybe a minute out from your location. We lost most of the infected. Over.”
The three looked at each other then stepped outside.
The heat outside seemed even worse with the sun beating down on them.
Vajjer closed the door into the building while Caisson and Wagner quickly unwrapped the chain and opened the gate enough to slip through.
In the distance rapidly getting louder was the chugging of the diesel engines.
In the local area, there was no movement whatsoever. Not even a breeze. It was only seconds before their shirts were stained again with sweat marks. Inside the buildings there had been air flowing which had helped cool them. When they had walked along the walkways on top of the buildings while under the sun there had still been a breeze. Down amongst the buildings it felt like a sauna.
The first of the vehicles came around the far corner and accelerated toward the three men standing by the gate. Caisson and Wagner quickly chained it shut again. If anyone ever came into the area they would find the building secured as they had found it.
The first of the vehicles passed the men and they squealed its brakes while it stopped. The other two vehicles came up slower.
Caisson sighed, “I’ll talk to my driver when we get aboard. Young and dumb can get us killed.”
No one said anything else.
As the last vehicle stopped each man stepped up to their vehicle and climbed aboard careful not to burn themselves on the hot metal armour.
Back from where the vehicles had come a lone zombie came staggering out from the corner and slowly shuffled toward them.
Major Wagner was the last man in and he took the time to watch the zombie walk toward them. It was missing its right hand and looked like it was wearing coveralls, or what was left of them. Everything else was hard to tell. Its scalp was gone and the body looked badly desiccated. Wagner wasn’t sure if it was a male or female.
The question hit him. The dead walk in horror movies. Where did rigor mortis or natural decaying fall into this? A corpse so dried out if it had been lying or sitting in the sweltering summer sun for a few days would be cracking and would likely fall apart as it started moving around.
Yet this one was shuffling along slowly but surely. In fact, as it had gotten closer it seemed to sense or hear the vehicles and people. It was moving faster and reaching out with both arms. It was still far away but its face was a mess. It could have been missing its eyes as well and he didn’t want to think about what it smelled like.
How could they still be moving? Was the body not decaying? Would they ever break down or would these things keep walking around for years?
Behind the one came three more.
Wagner carefully stepped down into the turret and pulled the hatch shut securing it.
He heard the driver talking and they started slowly driving away.
He didn’t know why they weren’t rotting and falling apart faster. Honestly, it didn’t matter. They had to survive the now.
The convoy slowly started rolling forward with more distance between the vehicles.
There was one more outpost for them to check then they could head back for the relative safety of the headquarters area and the problems waiting for them there.
Behind the vehicles just a few of the dead followed. Most of them were lost in the huge industrial sector walking around in circles. They would be active for days while they hunted for the fresh food that had escaped them.
The dead didn’t get tired or ask questions. They just kept slowly walking around driven by an animal instinct to follow noises to food.
More noises would happen soon. It would help them find where they needed to go.
OUTPOST EIGHT
T
he last outpost was not really far. Yet the convoy left the slaughterhouse district, drove through a small industrial zone followed by yet another thin line of cheap tenement housing some of which had burned in some fire and another that had just collapsed. Then they were into another commercial area. Huge warehouses with wider roads. Likely a shipping point as they were just a few miles from the ocean and with the rail lines trans-shipping would be huge. From the map, it looked like the northern part of the city was focused on the rail lines.
They only took ten minutes to get to the area of the last outpost. There were warehouses everywhere. There was no sign of an outpost. Nothing.
Every time they had moved into an area the map had been very accurate. When the outpost hadn’t been in the location there had been some signs or arrows pointing to direct survivors or refugees to the right location.
There was nothing here.
On every warehouse was a sign indicating what company or companies used the faci
lity. No one recognized any of the company names.
After they arrived at the spot that was supposed to be the outpost building the convoy sat chugging in idle while Major Wagner reviewed the map and tried to figure out what was going on.
The three vehicles took the time to review and prepare for what was still to come.
The vehicles had used approximately half of their available fuel. At least according to the gauges. If they wrapped up quickly then they would make it back to headquarters with extra fuel in the tanks. They had only used ammunition in the first encounter and even then, they had not used their rifles but side arms and shotguns.
Everyone drank the warm water from their canteens then topped up from the water jerry cans strapped down inside the vehicle. Behind them a few zombies had caught up to the vehicles and were scratching and banging on the vehicles, but they didn’t have the ability to climb up. With only a dozen the crews were not worried about them getting in or damaging the vehicles. If a few hundred were to show up it would be a different story.
After five minutes with no movement everyone was getting frustrated.
“Caisson, I recommend we split up and drive up and down the roads here doing a sweep and try to cover maybe a square k. We have the fuel for it and they may have chosen to shift a bit from where they were supposed to be to a better building. Or something else, Over.”
“Wagner, we might as well. They must be somewhere nearby. But we only stay for a short time and if anyone’s vehicle acts up we need to leave immediately. Over.”
“Caisson. Why would a vehicle act up now? Over.”
“Wagner. Because one we would be due for something to go wrong now and two it’s what would go wrong in a fricking horror movie. Let’s roll. Out”
The vehicles slowly spread out and headed North away from the city core searching for the missing outpost.
They drove up three streets slowly looking for any sign of movement or habitation and there was nothing.
