Chapter 31
Hutch had been staring into a pair of binoculars for the last hour down onto the grounds of the Sioux City, Iowa, Railroad Museum.
This wasn’t one of the stops he had planned to make, but a place he had decided to check out after a long and dangerous trip leaving Louisville. He had to reroute his path because of the potential for fallout from the nuclear bomb detonated over Chicago, back in the beginning of the outbreak. He wasn’t even sure what town he was in, not after getting lost on several back roads while on his way. When he came across a sign on the side of the road advertising the Railroad Museum, he figured it might prove an interesting place to stop and execute one of his plans.
Those plans had changed, though, as he stared down into the facility. He watched as a large white box truck backed up into a makeshift pen and started unloading people at gunpoint. The people didn’t look infected or hurt, other than some new bruises or cuts they were sporting, which he presumed had been earned during their capture. Their captors were all heavily armed and dressed in varying degrees of military gear from all branches of service. However, none of them were carrying themselves in the way a current or former soldier would, telling him that the outfits were probably scavenged. They argued with each other, and other than the one man standing on top of the box truck, they showed no signs of having anything even close to a true hierarchy of leadership.
The man on top of the truck was rather large, and with a badly maintained Mohawk, and was sloppily carrying a large squad assault weapon around like it was a shotgun, all the while shouting orders to the other armed men as if he were in charge. He leaned down with the large gun a couple of times and used it as a club to motivate one of the new arrivals to hurry out of the truck and into the pen. He then had the women and children separated and taken into a large building on the north side of the complex, while the men were beaten when they put up a fight to keep that from happening. One man who wouldn’t come to heel was shot by the Mohawk as a show of force to the others, and they all quickly complied. He knew the type of men he was watching below, as he had seen it too many times in his travels. The results would not be pleasant for any of them, but the women would probably suffer the worst.
Hutch, normally, wouldn’t intervene with a human encampment, but the brutality just witnessed had gotten his attention. That, coupled with the mass grave discovered a mile or so back, and which had led him here, was more than enough incentive to do something.
Hutch had served in some of the most despicable locations in the world over his twenty years of service as a S.E.A.L., and he knew a torture and rape camp when he saw one.
He’d been watching them for the better part of the day and making notes of all their capabilities. He had only seen sixteen men so far, and with the newest arrival of captives, that put almost forty people currently being held. The people didn’t look like they would be much help, as most of them had their hands bound and looked like they hadn’t had a decent meal in weeks. If he was going to attack the camp, it was going to have to be done very carefully and very quickly. He was also going to need some supplies, which meant a trip into Sioux City, which also increased the danger from the local slab population.
After a long slow crawl through the thick brush, Hutch finally made it back to his hidden van and started his journey into town for supplies. As he maneuvered through the clogged roads, he noticed every car, business, and home he had passed had been looted, which worried him that it might just turn out to be a lot harder getting what he needed than he’d originally thought. A lone convenience store sat up ahead at the next intersection, and he decided to pull in to see if he could get lucky with finding the one thing that nobody would have been scavenging for in the apocalypse: a basic street map. Having never been there before, one would help him navigate and maybe find a section of town not yet completely ransacked.
As Hutch pulled up, he parked right next to the front door of the place to give him a chance for a fast getaway, if necessary. The store looked completely empty, but he decided to check it out, anyway. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and drew his sidearm before quickly slipping into the darkened store. He looked for the universal rack that he had seen in every convenience store he had ever been in, and after a few minutes of searching, found it thrown into the corner of the store. Not wanting to waste any more time, he grabbed every map on the rack figuring it would be safer sorting them out from the comfort of his sealed van.
Hutch turned to head back out of the store and found himself staring at three armed and masked men pointing automatic assault weapons directly at him. They were almost halfway across the store, but quickly heading his way, which didn’t give him much time to formulate an escape plan, and forcing him to do what he did next.
“Whoa, guys, I’m not looking for any trouble,” Hutch said as he put his hands up and took a nonaggressive stance. He also noted the way they moved to head him off. They’d definitely had tactical training, probably military.
The lead man stopped just out of reach and scanned the weaponry on Hutch while his partners took up position on either side, eliminating any chance for escape. “Get on the ground,” the lead man barked in a muffled voice.
Hutch knew he was in a no-win situation, so he complied and dropped to his knees, keeping his arms up the entire time.
As the two men flanking his sides reached over and removed his sidearm and rifle, the lead man kept a steady bead on him with his rifle, indicating he was in control of the situation. Since he was now unarmed and well covered, Hutch decided it might be the best time to start asking questions.
“I can tell you guys have some training. You ex-police or military?”
He got no reply as they looked at the pile of maps scattered at Hutch’s feet, trying to figure out what he had been up to. Figuring he needed to earn a little credibility, he slowly started to stick out his right arm towards the guy to his side. “Roll my sleeve up. Ex-military here.” Hutch figured that a I’ll show you mine and you show me yours tactic might work.
Again, there was nothing but silence as the lead guy leaned in, and with the butt of his gun smashed Hutch in the forehead, seemingly knocking him out.
Hutch hit the floor behind him hard, and with every fiber of his body wanting to let out a scream as he shoved the gun into a place the stranger wouldn’t like, but he knew when it was time to sell a knockout, and this was it. He rotated just as he hit the ground and as he closed his eyes, put on a performance that fooled his attackers.
They picked him up and start dragging him to a large metal pole in the center of the store. He heard the sound of handcuffs being pulled out of a pocket and knew it was time to act. He opened his eyes slightly and saw they had all dropped their guard, thinking he was out. As the one with the handcuffs approached him, the other two were trying to slide him into place up against the pole. Hutch had enough and figured he couldn’t let them shackle him or he would have no chance of escape.
With an upward thrust of his head, he caught the first one completely off guard, crashing his head into the man’s chin, which freed his right hand so that he could then swing right into the jaw of the other guy busy trying to secure his left arm.
The shot to the jaw was one in a million, completely knocking the man out and dropping him straight down, which now freed up Hutch’s other arm.
He jumped up from the ground, still feeling a little groggy from the rifle to the forehead, but not enough he didn’t catch the lead man from earlier before he could re-swing his rifle back around. The two men tumbled backwards and over a set of empty shelving, with Hutch making sure that he landed on top.
He was straddling the man with both hands on the rifle, pressing it into the man’s throat. The pressure of the rifle and the surprise of the attack had already left the man winded, so it didn’t take long before the lack of oxygen did its job. With the man’s grip gone from the gun, Hutch stood up and moved over to the first man he’d struck, who was just getting up from being dazed
by the blow to his chin. Hutch watched as the man lifted the bottom part of his mask to spit out blood and teeth onto the ground. “Damn man, you knocked out my teeth,” he yelled in a much younger voice than Hutch was expecting.
“No choice, hero. Now get on the ground, or the next thing you’ll see will be the flash from this gun going off.” Hutch leveled the gun at the man’s chest.
The man complied and watched as Hutch walked over to the handcuffs—that had been meant for him—lying on the ground, and kicked them over.
“Put those on you and him.” Hutch pointed to the unconscious man next to him.
Satisfied they were secured, Hutch walked over and drug the third man back across the floor, laying him at the feet of the only conscious member of the trio. “Ditch the ski masks. I want to get a good look at all of you.”
He was a little caught off guard when all three ski masks were removed and he was looking at three young men who couldn’t be any older than fifteen or sixteen. “Y’all are kids?”
“Old enough to almost get the drop on you, old man,” one of the ones he’d thought unconscious answered.
“You the leader of this little band of soldiers?”
The one who was holding point earlier, that Hutch ended up choking out, slowly sat up and faced him. “Just because I’m the oldest here. I’m not answering any more questions until you tell us where you took our parents.”
“Listen, kid, I’m probably not who you think I am, but I have a pretty good idea of where your parents are. I saw a prison camp outside of town manned by some pretty rough looking guys who were bringing in a fresh new batch of prisoners. Might that be who you’re looking for?”
“If you’re not with them, why’re you dressed like them?” the lead boy asked.
“Like I said before, ex-military here,” Hutch said as he pulled up his sleeve and showed them his S.E.A.L. tattoo.
“Really? You’re a S.E.A.L? Are you here to help stop the zombies or what?”
“I was passing through when I saw that prison. Wasn’t planning on staying long until then. Figured I would get rid of those guys and free the people trapped there. I was worried about doing it alone, but I’m thinking you three might now have an interest in helping me. I gotta ask, though, I saw how you approached me earlier, and was wondering where you got the training to do that. It was a pretty textbook maneuver for securing a room. Did you have a soldier or someone teach you those moves?”
“No training. We picked it up from playing video games together growing up,” the boy answered.
“Video games? What kind of games train you like that?”
“First person shooters. Been playin’ our whole life,” the boy answered.
“Damn. I have missed out on a lot playing real war all those years.” Hutch stepped back from the three captives and sat down on a milk crate to think for a second.
Chapter 32
Jeremy was standing at the lookout on the second floor and all he saw was smoke rising from every direction in the trees across the open field outside of the school grounds. “Has anybody seen anything yet?” he yelled out to everybody in the room.
Nobody answered at first, until finally a voice from the corner of the room spoke out, “Over here, I see something.”
Jeremy moved over and looked out a hole in the boarded-up window and saw a woman with a bullhorn approaching through the trees. “Figures it’d be her.” Jeremy started to pace around the room.
A few moments later, he heard the voice over the bullhorn. “Jeremy, we’re coming in today. We promise you no harm.”
Jeremy walked over to an open area in the barricaded windows and leaned out. “If you try, we will shoot. Leave us alone, and no one dies today.”
He then turned around and looked at the amassed troops in the room. “If any of them approaches, open fire immediately. If you don’t shoot, Ben or Jason will shoot you.” He looked over to his bodyguards. “You stay here while I go check our other defenses,” he ordered before he left the room.
Trip was working feverishly trying to find the last ingredient needed. He figured he still had a couple hours till the alarm would sound, and that was all an’ good, but time was a weird thing; it always seemed you had tons of it, until you really needed it. And then the alarm had gone off, and way too early. Currently, he was on his knees, scouring under the sink trying to find a certain bottle, when he heard footsteps come up from behind. He looked down and saw a familiar pair of boots standing next to him. “Hope, I’m not ready yet. I thought we had more time,” he said as he finally found what he was looking for.
“Where are the others usually in the kitchen with you?” Hope asked as she surveyed the area.
“One took off when the alarm sounded. The other is tied up in the back. I had to hit him pretty hard with a pan, and Sherri helped me tie him up,” he answered as he ran over to a bucket in the middle of the dining area.
“Where’s she now?” Hope asked.
“She bolted out the back and bailed on us as soon as it was clear. Are we ready? Because this is going to get smoky, and quick.” Trip opened the bottle of ammonia in his hand. “When I drop this into that bucket of bleach, we gotta go,” Trip said as he waited for Hope’s response.
“Yeah, we can’t go looking for the other prisoners. We gotta leave now. Go ahead.”
Trip dropped the bottle of ammonia, and almost immediately, the solution started to bubble and a toxic cloud began to slowly roll out of it. Before the fumes could reach them, both companions took off running for the garage. Just as they turned the corner in one hallway, Jeremy was turning into the same, but at the far end, and was able to witness the two running away.
Jeremy took off in pursuit of the two new arrivals, but couldn’t keep up and lost sight of them. He stopped at the intersection he’d seen them running through, and looked back to where they had come from and saw a cloud of smoke forming in the cafeteria. He decided to check on that first to see what damage they might’ve done. When he opened the door to the cafeteria, he was hit by the toxic fumes from the now wildly boiling bucket in the middle of the room. He started coughing violently, and his lungs felt like they were on fire. He shut the door before he inhaled anymore and collapsed to the floor. He could smell the fumes already starting to creep into the hallway, so he gathered enough strength to roll away from the doors, far enough away to get a grip on his coughing fit.
Hope and Trip made it to the garage, and Hunter was rolling up the large bay door, just as they entered. “Get in! We’re leaving—now.”
Trip jumped in the back, and Hope was on her way around to the front passenger side of the truck, when Jeremy barged in, still coughing. Hope stopped as she saw him pointing his pistol at her as he was trying to gather enough breath to yell at them to stop.
Hope looked over at Hunter and waved. “I got this one, give me a second.” She walked casually towards Jeremy.
As Hope made her way over to him, Jeremy finally got a solid breath to speak. “I will kill you for this.” He leveled the gun straight at Hope’s face.
“You don’t have the guts to pull that trigger. I dare you.” Hope walked right up to the barrel of the gun.
Jeremy didn’t even hesitate or go into any more rants. He just pulled the trigger as she had dared.
Nothing happened.
He pulled the trigger again and again, but with the same results. “What the hell?” He looked madly at the gun.
“You probably need this, dumbass,” Hope said as she tossed him the firing pin she had stored in her pocket. “I’ve been pulling them out of every gun for the last two days.”
As Jeremy watched in surprise at the firing pin falling to his feet, he never saw the girl’s vicious right-cross before it knocked him out.
Hope turned and ran over to the truck and jumped in the passenger seat. “Let’s get Morgan. She’s probably wondering if we left without her yet,” she said to the two men who looked very surprised at what they just saw happen.
Hunter floored the old truck out of the shop and spun it around to swing by the guard tower where Morgan was eagerly awaiting them. As they pulled up beside it, they heard a thud on the roof before Morgan slid into the window. “Let’s go,” she said as she got comfortable.
Hunter looked up at the kids in the school who were all looking at their non-firing weapons, trying to figure out why none of them were working. He saw a few coming out of the doors on the bottom floor, coughing and gasping for air as the fumes permeated throughout the school. Hunter looked at Trip. “You sure that stuff ain’t going to hurt them too bad?”
“Naw. If they get out quickly, they will have a bad cough for a couple of days,” Trip answered. “Now, please get us out of here.”
Hunter put the truck back into gear and started to leave, when he looked over and saw the woman with the bullhorn trying to get their attention. Hunter slid a pistol onto his lap before he pulled over by the woman. “It’s all yours again, but you might want to let it air out before going in.” He kept one hand on the pistol.
“Thank you.”
Hope looked at the woman. “Is Jeremy your son?”
“Yeah. Is he okay?”
“He is, but he’s gonna have a headache for a while. He’s in the shop, and you might need these for the weapons.” Hope tossed a small bag through the window to the woman containing all the firing pins she’d removed.
Hunter didn’t give the woman any more time to talk, as he gunned the engine and took off towards the main road.
The team was silent for the first few minutes of the trip until a voice from the back spoke up. “You probably need this, dumbass. Pow. That was awesome,” Trip said, laughing.
The truck’s cab erupted into laughter, except for Morgan, who felt like she’d missed something important.
Chapter 33
Renee slowly returned to the living room to investigate the noises she heard. She looked up into the hole in the ceiling and found that the creature was no longer there. For the first time that night, a wave of fear swept over her as she backed up to a wall and started scanning the room for the creature. As she picked up her night vision goggles off the floor, she heard an awful gurgling sound come from the hallway on the opposite side of the room. It sounded like someone sipping through a straw that had a hole in it, but they kept trying to get the liquid up the tube, anyway. She slowly started towards the sound, keeping the rifle leveled forward with her finger on the trigger. She rounded the corner to the hallway and found the source of the noise. It was the injured creature lying on the ground with a huge hole through the middle of its chest from where it had been impaled moments earlier. The creature didn’t see or hear her coming, as it was dragging its injured body down the hall.
Humanity's Hope (Book 2): Juggernaut Page 16
