Infected World Trilogy (Books 1-3): They Only Come Out At Night

by Guenther, David

  “Good luck, soldier. Take care of yourself.” He’s just like my husband, away from home, and he’s so young and looks lost to me, she thought as she waved goodbye.

  Caleb looked at his watch and saw it was only 1030 hrs. Dang, if it hasn’t been a full day already. I should report the three trains here so they know there’s coal. I wonder how much coal this is with each train of cars looking like it’s a mile long? I wonder if we could put those trucks that run on the tracks to any use?

  Chapter 8

  Highway 17 south of Camp Verde, Arizona, April 5, 2029

  “Master Sergeant Hale, the exit up here might make a good place for a quick break. It’s far enough away from any cities that there might be some easy pickin’s still available that the Zs haven’t messed up or looters cleared out.” The driver, a Private First Class, who made the suggestion reminded Hale of a puppy.

  “Private McBain, what you are suggesting is called ‘looting.’ That is usually frowned upon. Take the exit, I want to determine how bad the looting has been in this area.” And get myself as many cigarettes as possible before they’re gone for good. “Corporal Hilton, keep alert. The buildings around the gas station would make a good place for an ambush.”

  Hilton performed a quick inspection on the armored car’s M2 machine gun, again, wishing there was more .50 cal ammunition and any ammunition at all for the MK19 grenade launcher.

  “Oh, crap!” Hale muttered when he saw the road and parking lots covered in corpses. “All trucks hold here, keep alert for any hostiles,” the Master Sergeant ordered over the radio. “McBain, take us slowly into the parking lot and then slowly circle the gas station.” He involuntarily shuddered as the M1117 Guardian bounced as it drove over the bodies. Bodies have all their clothing on. These weren’t Zs. Why did someone murder so many people? There has to be a hundred bodies here, at least.

  The armored car completed circling the gas station. Remains of a huge propane tank were almost entirely black from an earlier fire. The top had been blown off. Four partial bodies surrounded it with small propane tanks. It looked at first like it had been an accident until the string of holes showed it had been fired on by an automatic weapon.

  “McBain, park us by the gas pumps pointed west. Hilton, keep that turret moving, I don’t want any surprises.” Hale picked up the microphone, “All drivers hold in place and stay alert. Everyone else rally to me at the gas pumps.” He reached over and grabbed his carbine before opening the hatch above the commander’s seat and climbing out, letting the hatch slam back shut behind him. He quickly crawled over the top of the ASV and dropped to the ground by the pumps, using the armored car as cover from the buildings.

  Hale slapped his own face as he watched the three men and two women saunter the hundred feet to the pumps from the trucks. Well, at least there’s no snipers around. “I’m certainly glad there aren’t any snipers in the buildings. But amuse me and let’s just jog over to the gas station in pairs, as the rest of us provide cover. You two are first.” A National Guardsman Private First Class and an Air Force Senior Airman looked at him in shock. “Move on the count of three, one, two, three.” The pair were almost comical; the airman ran a zigzag pattern, clutching her carbine to her side. The Private First Class slowly trotted to the building, constantly aiming his M4 at any and all perceived threats until he tripped on the curb and went sprawling across the pavement.

  Lord, give me strength. “You two, just jog over to the building, nothing fancy.” A Marine and a National Guardsman smiled back at him before they jogged side by side to the building. “Looks like it’s just you and me kid, ready for a little jog?” The young Army sergeant looked like she wanted to cry. Her face was pale white and she was shaking like she had a fever. I’m too old for this crap. “Now jog with me.” Hale saw she wasn’t going to move so he grabbed her by her harness and pulled her along with him until she started to jog on her own.

  He peeked into the window and saw the insides were actually three different operations; a small grocery market, a tourist shop, and a fast food restaurant in the back. There was no visible movement and it didn’t appear too dark inside. “Okay, Team One, you two will clear the store to the left until you get to the fast food. Team Two, you will head to the right and clear the grocery store. My team will follow and backup whoever needs assistance.” Hale moved to the door and mimed a count down from three. On one, he opened the door as the two teams rushed in. The first team made it ten feet past the register before tripping over a body. Hale started to shout when he smelled the other dead bodies, spoiled dairy products, and rotten meat. He barely kept from gagging as he watched the two teams clear the entire store.

  “You go tell the trucks to come on up. Then post yourself as a guard outside.” Hale directed the young Army sergeant.” A look of shock came over her face and became even paler, she swallowed hard before replying.

  “Bring the trucks up and then position myself as guard, yes, Master Sergeant Hale.” Hale smiled as she rushed out of the store. Poor girl’s scared to death, but still functioning. I just hope she can hold it together when there’s actually some danger. He turned his attention back to the interior of the store. The dead on the floor, from their ripped up clothing, easily identified them as infected. There were also numerous dead that weren’t infected. Probably died clearing out the store. How come there’s still so much on the shelves still?

  “Listen up, folks. I wanted to see how bad the store had been looted. Since we are here now, if there’s any supplies you may need, you have five minutes to fill a bag. If anyone takes beer or alcohol, be very sure you will be on my shit list if you open a bottle before we return to Sanctuary.” Hale then walked over to the tourist shop and grabbed a couple of rainbow colored backpacks with unicorns. He smiled at the taunts he was sure was on the lips of the troops as he filled them up with cigarettes and cigars, nothing else in the store enticed him at all. He strode out to the ASV and shouted for them to dismount. “Get inside and grab anything you need. I’ll take your place at the fifty.” McBain and Hilton popped their hatches and scrambled down the side of the armored car as Hale climbed in through the hatch on the side, not wanting to climb up the side of the vehicle as he suddenly felt tiredness overtake him. This is a kid’s game; I’m getting too old for all this. He noticed the sergeant was still maintaining guard outside the store. He popped his head out the gunner’s hatch. “Head on into the store and secure anything you need,” he shouted. He was surprised when she jogged the short distance to him first.

  “Master Sergeant Hale, we’re under observation.” To her credit, she resisted pointing at the observers. “They’re across the street in the bushes by where the guard rail ends. You can see the reflection from their binoculars. I thought it was trash, but there was movement. I wasn’t sure until now.”

  “Okay, run into the store and brief everyone what you briefed me. I want the ASV crew out here ASAP. Everyone is to play it cool and slowly return to their trucks. Then I want you to pick someone to create a diversion over by that other fast food place, make it loud and animated.”Hale watched the sergeant walk over to the store and give a last look back to him as she entered.

  What is going on in there? Hale was ready to dismount and see what was keeping the crew from returning when the door burst open and the two men staggered towards the armored car, having to support each other. They appeared to be feeling no pain. The same time they made it to the ASV the store’s door shattered. The rest of the team was loudly returning to their trucks. A couple of beer bottles went flying towards the road as their voices became more animated.

  “Master Sergeant Hale, we added a little bit to your plan.” Hilton said as he climbed in, “We wanted to make the rest of our guys appear less threatening. Hale climbed down from the gunner’s position and didn’t reply. He sat down in the commander’s seat when he saw and heard the commotion in the parking lot.

  “You bitch! That’s the last time you wave those oversize fake tits in my man’s
face. I think it’s time for someone to lose their fake bleached blonde hair as an object lesson to keep their legs crossed!” The young sergeant was waving a bayonet over her head as she chased another soldier, her long blonde hair flowing down almost to her butt. The girl screamed and begged as she continued to run towards the fast food restaurant on the corner. The rest of the men hid behind the truck, waiting for their sign to charge across the street. Hale spoke slowly and clearly into his microphone so there’d be no misunderstanding.

  “We don’t know what’s going on with our observers. When you charge over to them, do NOT open fire unless fired upon. If they throw as much as a firecracker at you, we’ll light them up. Now GO, GO, GO!”

  Hale wanted to scream out when he saw all seven men run, all out, towards the bushes. Damn, they’re doing what I told them to do. We’re going to need to have some small unit tactical drills before someone dies. Four men popped up from the bushes, hands high in the air. Hale looked to both sides where he would have had flank security and was relieved to see no movement. He took a quick glance over by the fast food restaurant and noticed the two women were on the ground, rolling around as they fought. He turned the selector to PA and spoke into his mike.

  “Bring our visitors to me.”Hale then cupped his hands and shouted, “Ladies, you did an outstanding job, you can knock it off now.” The two women continued to wrestle for a minute before disengaging. He turned back to the four men; they were all wearing a mishmash of camo. His own men carried the men’s backpacks, the backpacks were actually little more than daypacks with hydration bladders. Their only weapons consisted of three shotguns and a black rifle.

  “Can one of you gentlemen, please, tell me, what you were doing spying on us? I almost took the safe road and fired you up.” The oldest of the group, appearing to be fifty, began to speak when Hale stopped him. “One moment, sir, take the others behind the truck out of earshot.” Hale turned back to the man who now began to perspire. “Would you like a drink or anything before you begin? You look a little hot.”

  “Why are you assholes playing games with us? We saw what you did here earlier. You can see from the bullet pattern on the wall that it came from an automatic weapon, so why screw with us now?”

  Hale climbed out through the overhead hatch and dropped to the ground near the man. “Sir, this is our first time here. I was doing an assessment of how bad the looting was in this area and hoping to get a pack of cigarettes.” He pulled out a pack and offered one to the man before lighting both. “The US Army doesn’t make a habit of shooting its citizens. Did anyone see that it was military that did it? Remember, there’s a lotta folks running around dressed up like military and, unfortunately, a few armories have been robbed with everything going on. Take yourself for example. Someone that didn’t know any better might think you were military.”

  The man looked at Hale wearily, trying to think of what he was going to say. “So what are you going to do with us then?”

  “Not a thing. I’d offer to drop you and your friends off up the road by your homes, but I’m guessing you’re down here for a little shopping, and leave it at that. If you and your people are interested in relocating, there’s a development near Surprise that has electricity and water. They also have good security. Soon they’re going to be planting crops, if you’re interested in joining their community.”

  “Why are you even telling me all of this? It sounds like it could be a trap.”

  “Sir, if I was a ‘bad guy’, I know your people are about a mile north of us and I could make a world of hurt, but I’m not. Now, I just finished my cigarette and we are going to be on our way. I’m sorry if we scared you and your folks. The group in Surprise is called Sanctuary; they meet prospective additions to their group at noon at the County Library, near a water park. That’s all up to you. I’ve wasted enough time here. We need to be on the road. Have a nice day sir.” Hale looked over at his people. “Give these folks back their stuff and mount up, we’re losing daylight.” Hale handed the man the rest of the cigarette pack, then climbed back into the ASV.

  The man and his friends just stood in the shade of the store and watched them leave. Then their leader pulled out a small radio from his pocket. “Let the Army patrol pass on by. I don’t think they’re the ones that attacked the store.” He looked across the street to the top of the café and smiled when he saw his men stand up to watch as the patrol went down the entrance ramp to the highway. He received a new message seconds later.

  “Patrol is almost to the river, confirm we blow bridge.” Gullickson went cold when he heard the call.

  “Stand down and let the patrol pass, copy?” He imagined the bridge over the Verde River blowing up and the army patrol being killed for nothing.

  “Patrol has passed over the bridge. Standing down.”

  Hale watched all the greenery and trees along the little river pass by and settled back to watching brown scrub and the occasional green shrub. He was surprised at how good he was feeling for no apparent reason.

  Chapter 9

  Highway 59, Wyoming. April 5, 2029

  Caleb felt like he was on autopilot as he kept his truck in the right lane and didn’t think of anything else as the scenery zipped on by him. He looked down at the speedometer and was mildly amused to see he was doing 95. He was feeling hunger pangs and didn’t relish the thought of the freeze dried meals or MREs he had in the bed of the truck. A billboard sign advertised Henry’s Roadside Bar & Grill, only one mile ahead. Without realizing it, his foot was off the gas and he was letting the truck coast down so he’d be able to see the building and turn off in time, the possibility of real food enticing him. The Bar and Grill was on the right hand side. He noted there must be close to a hundred cars and trucks surrounding the warehouse size building.

  He felt them as he turned off the road. There were more infected close by than he could count. The city to his back had enough infected to register and that seemed about it. He couldn’t sense anyone else around him. The bar’s door was painted in red, with a simple sign, ‘Stay Out’ above it was a crude skull and crossbones that looked like it’d been painted by an eight year old. The door had a dozen bullet holes that riddled it. He looked again and realized the building had no windows. The Zs must love this place, probably like a huge cave in there.

  Shrieking greeted him as he opened the door. With the angle of the sun coming from the south, the west facing door didn’t let in much sunlight, but it was enough to panic all those inside, though. The lights were on and all the occupants were on the far side of the huge dining room. Tables everywhere were knocked over and the smell of feces was almost as strong as the infecteds’ body odor. There was no smell of rotten meat or spoiled food he noticed. After the door closed behind him, a dozen or so infected approached him, sniffed a little at him, then went back towards the center of the room, others were no longer along the far wall and moved about. There was no strong sense of anger or any other emotions, most of the infected returned to where they had been sleeping when he arrived. The kitchen area was now calling to him. As he walked past the huge bar that covered the wall, he noticed the faucets were on and the sinks were overflowing onto the floor. An infected brushed by him and stuck her face into the sink and took a long draw of water. She ignored the broken glass on the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind her as she returned to the dining area, limping slightly from a piece of glass imbedded in the sole of her left foot. Caleb agonized for a moment, then followed her to where she lay on the floor. The girl looked to be about twenty, with a full head of seriously tangled brown hair that trailed down to her butt. She looked clean, no blood was on the front of her simple red dress, nor was there blood on her face. Caleb sat down next to her. She looked at him like she was trying to figure out what he was. When he reached for her foot, she slapped him away and tucked her feet under her. She now looked scared and ready to fight. Caleb’s right hand shot out and grabbed her exposed ankle so quickly that she sat stunned as he pulled her foot t
o him, then pulled out the glass shard. The skin that had started to heal around it bled freely for a couple seconds then just stopped. He smiled at the girl and dropped her foot softly to the floor and then handed her the glass shard before getting back to his feet. She remained on the floor and looked at him blankly as he headed for the kitchen.

  The smell of burnt meat hit him hard as the door to the kitchen swung open. Caleb was thankful when he realized it was all actually burnt meat and not bodies. The kitchen was worse than a sauna, even the Zs had stayed out. He strode over to the walk in refrigerator, he felt the presence the same time he opened the door. In the far corner a pair was cuddled to keep warm. Their eyes opened wide in shock and fear as they looked at him.

  “Good morning, don’t mind me. I was just looking for a steak to cook for my breakfast.” A huge T-bone got his attention; he grabbed it and was going to close the door when the woman spoke.

  “Aren’t you going to help us, mister?” She was about nineteen, wearing a tiny halter top and miniskirt, a nametag read, ‘Sharon.’ The man who was almost under her was wearing white pants and shirt with the name ‘Bill’ embroidered on it under an apron.

  “Well, if I help both of you get out of here, most likely I’ll have to kill some of the folks in the other room. They didn’t do anything to me, why should I hurt or kill them?” Why am I screwing with these folks? I know I’m going to help them.

  “I’ll do anything you want, mister.” Sharon tried to look sexier than she already was. She fought back a scream when Caleb turned to the cook.

  “How about you? Will you do anything I want?” The cook was in his early forties and almost laughed at the question.