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

by Guenther, David

  “Carl! You get to try it your way. Don’t ruin her for the rest of us. I want answers or Billy gets a try at her.” Gloria shuddered as the little man swaggered towards her.

  “Hello again, my black-eyed beauty. We ready for some more fun? The assholes stopped me earlier when I was starting to have fun with you, and you seemed to be getting into it even if you were sleeping.” He leered at her as she shuddered again in revulsion. She could feel her hands beginning to move a little bit as the rope loosened.

  The first punch came as a surprise as Carl hit her in the abdomen with all his strength. She expelled any air she had in her lungs and thought she was going to throw up. Carl followed up with an open-handed slap against her cheek that stunned her. Laughing, he pulled her head towards him and stuck his tongue in her mouth while viciously pawing at her breasts. He moved away before she could defend herself. “Damn guys, she likes it! Not putting up a fuss or anything.” Carl shouted to everyone in the hangar. He reached up again to pull her head down as he closed in to kiss her again. Gloria waited until his lips were next to hers and she smashed her head towards his as hard as she could manage. She smiled as he dropped to the ground out cold, blood pouring from his broken nose.

  “That girl has spunk! I hate spunk! Pull Carl over to his sleeping bag out of the way.”Jimmy stood just out of reach of Gloria as she tried to kick at him. “Your turn, Billy. If you screw up, ah ain’t gonna be pleased with you.” Gloria slid her hands out of the ropes, but kept her hands behind her, until she felt the moment was right.

  “That was cute what you did to Carl, Carl’s an idiot. When I’m done with you, you’re gonna tell me everything I want to know and beg me to be my personal slut,” Billy said as he worked himself up to attack the helpless woman.

  “So your momma musta died from the plague, if you’re looking for a new personal slut. Did she let you sleep under the front porch, or was she rich enough for you to have a room in the basement? Oh silly me, trailers don’t have basements, do they, trailer trash?” Gloria eyed the man’s belt and the automatic that was sticking out of a leather holster built for a revolver.

  I can do this, there’s only a couple guys watching me, the rest are busy on the other side of the hangar. I gotta kick him in the nuts, then grab his gun, and…

  “Christ Almighty! It’s Carl!” Someone hollered as Carl jumped onto a man’s back, knocking him down before biting into his exposed neck. A short stream of blood poured out like a fountain, covering Carl’s face and shoulders. The rest of the men and women stood in shock.

  There’s my cue! Gloria thought as she grabbed the man’s auto and fired one-handed into his gut. She turned for the door and saw the red emergency control for the fire suppression system. She slammed her hand against the control and continued out the door, not looking back. Her truck was parked next to the door and Gloria shouted, “Thank you, God!” when she saw the keys in the ignition. At almost a hundred feet, she looked in the rearview mirror and could see the fire suppression foam slowly pouring out the door. The men were too busy with Carl, somewhere in the foam, and trying to get the main hangar doors open, to chase after her.

  Gloria smiled as she turned the truck and stopped a hundred feet from the fuel barn. She climbed out of the truck and walked to the back, hoping the guns were still under the boxes of uniforms. She almost cried with joy as she pulled out an M4 and then a pair of loaded magazines. “Payback, boys!” she said softly as she aimed carefully at the center mass of ‘Jimmy’ as he was shouting orders to his men. She didn’t even notice any recoil. Jimmy continued to give orders while everyone shouted at each other in the confusion. Gloria cursed and set the barrel of the carbine on the side of the truck to steady her aim, the sight’s red dot clearly on his chest when she squeezed the trigger. She did not notice where the shot went again and became furious that they had not even noticed her. She switched the selector to auto and went through the magazine in only a couple seconds. Everyone was now laid out on the ground and she considered it a moral victory as she walked back to the driver’s door. She took one last look and saw Carl attack the men taking cover on the ground. She laughed at the sight as she climbed into the truck. A half mile later she felt herself shaking as the adrenaline left her.

  Chapter 14

  Highway 40 East of Camp Navajo, Arizona, April 5, 2029

  Hale stopped the convoy and took the opportunity to try and scope out what he could see. He was amused that he could only see a few buildings and lots of open land for what was supposed to be a major facility.

  “It don’t look like much, does it?” Hale fought to keep control of his bowels as he looked to the side of the armored car to see the guardsman from one of the trucks standing there, looking across the road towards the base. “I’ve been here a few times, would you like me to ride in with you and direct you where to go?”

  “That’d make things easier. Climb aboard, Sergeant.”The sergeant scrambled to get in via the side hatch behind the driver. Hale had the driver proceed to the gate where he saw the ground littered with spent brass. “Looks like they had uninvited visitors, may have only been the Z. We’ll hold in place ten minutes and give the locals the opportunity to see we’re here before we go in uninvited.”

  “Master Sergeant Hale, looks like the defenders here shot up a shit load of cars at our six o’clock, bodies have been dumped there, too.” Corporal Hilton announced over the comm system as his gun turret faced the depression behind them, where a railroad track was out of sight from the road or base from ground level.

  Ahead of them a pair of Strykers took up position; Hale didn’t care to see both had 105 mm cannon pointing at him. “That’s not a good sign,” the guardsman said from behind him, “Let me borrow your helmet for a second, I need to change the radio frequency to what the locals use.”

  “Repeat, unidentified Guardian, what are your intentions?” blasted out from Gottlieb’s helmet speakers.

  “This is Stallion 7. We are here for resupply of ammunition. We are an ad hoc unit based in Surprise. My regular unit was the 855th MP Company, Sergeant Gottlieb.”

  “Stallion 7 standby.”

  “Well, at least they’re not shooting at us.” Gottlieb said nervously as he felt sweat leak down from the helmet and into his eyes. Hale only grunted in reply.

  “Stallion 7, dismount and walk towards us. Leave any weapons behind.” Gottlieb looked over to Hale, who shrugged at the unasked question.

  “You volunteered, in for a penny, in for a pound. Don’t worry if they gun you down, we should be able to take the fuckers out to avenge you. Now get moving. I want to get back before dark.” Gottlieb unhooked his M4 and slid it in the rack by the hatch before climbing out. The sun felt warm against his face as a breeze picked up and seemed to whistle on by him. Every sense was heightened as he walked towards the Strykers. He could hear the main ramp dropping as he neared the vehicles. A civilian walked out from behind the Stryker and stopped in front of the vehicle. He leaned back on it and casually lit up a cigarette.

  “Hi Stuart, small world, huh?” the civilian asked.

  “And getting smaller every day, Mr. Lazarus. What the hell are you doing driving around in a Stryker at your age? I thought you were already retired and living fat on a government pension.”

  “Somebody has to watch over this place. Hell, if a motorcycle gang or worse was able to take control of this place, well, they could take over the whole damn country. We have shit here that we don’t have, if you know what I mean. Any chance I can talk you and your Stallions into joining our guard force? We have our own water and electricity with enough food stored until the end of time.”

  “How many do you have here now?”

  “We have nine. We started with thirty, but after losses during the last attack, some deserted. There are some really motivated folks out there that want what we have in here. If the time comes that we can’t defend what we have here, we’ll have to destroy everything. Should only take about a month with all the supplie
s we have here. Even if we set off a nuke, most of the bunkers would survive okay. We already took it upon ourselves to start destroying the WMDs.”

  “I can bring it up to the lieutenant that’s in charge of our unit. Maybe she’ll have a detail sent out to augment you guys. For now we need ammo and to get back to Surprise before nightfall. If you want me to sign for shit, I’m on the authorization letter to receive munitions. The signature for requesting the same munitions may not look the way it usually does.” Gottlieb requested, half figuring he’d be turned away.

  “The shoe clerks are all dead, Stuart. There’s no one to look over any paperwork. You have four trucks, I’m guessing you want something like one truck of fifty, a truck of 40mm grenades, and two truckloads of 5.56 with some 9mm thrown in? Supply point 562 at igloo 135 has everything you need, along with some 7.62.” The old man reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring of keys and took off one that had only a zero on it. “Here’s a copy of my ‘God Key.’ It’ll get you into anything short of the WMD igloos. Ordinarily, I’d be your shadow and never even admit such a key exists. I have the feeling though, that by the time you come back for additional supplies, this place will be under new management unless we get help soon. Good luck, son.”

  Gottlieb was choked up as he reached for the key. The old man didn’t hide his disappointment as he turned back to his vehicle. He seemed smaller and looked a little more hunched over. Gottlieb went back to the ASV and climbed in.

  “Master Sergeant Hale, we’re golden. We need to take a right and follow the dirt road until we hit the treeline. From there we follow the road to the first intersection and turn left. Third bunker on the left will have everything we need. Mr. Lazarus asked me to pass on he needs bodies. They only have nine people manning the entire facility, and that includes WMDs.” Gottlieb was embarrassed because he thought he sounded like a whiney bitch to himself.

  “Did you get those instructions, McBain” Hale asked as he turned back around to face forward. “Are they going to meet us there or what’s the plan Sgt Gottlieb?”

  “He actually gave me the key to the lock.” Gottlieb felt himself flush a little for not telling the whole truth. The armored car was moving, so Hale made a point to keep vigilant to what was outside and didn’t notice Gottlieb trying to look normal.

  Hale seemed to be everywhere to the team loading ammunition into the trucks. One moment he was giving advice for how to move the boxes and crates the most effortlessly, the next he was tearing into a sergeant for failing to tie down crates of grenades properly. He had a light sheen of sweat on his face and looked like he was going to have a heart attack at any moment. He climbed up on the ASV to assist Corporal Hilton and Private First Class McBain in loading the Browning M2 and the MK19 grenade launcher and could see they had the job under control. Instead he began to fill in all the free space he could with ammo for both weapons and a couple cases of 5.56 ammo for the carbines. He was satisfied with the results and ready to get on the road when McBain shouted for him that there was a radio call for him.

  “This is Stallion 7” Hale transmitted as he sat down on the commander’s seat.

  “Stallion 7, I thought Stuart had that call sign, never mind that. When you’re ready to depart stop by the motor pool and you can top off your tanks.”

  “Copy that, ETA ten mikes.” Hale was surprised by the offer and was not going to pass up on the opportunity to refuel using gas pumps instead of fuel cans. I wonder what the price is going to be for that? He wondered.

  Hale could see the old man sitting by the pumps in an old lawn chair. A large bottle of tea sat next to him. Two other men could be seen inside a MRAP working on something.

  “Well, you all made some good time. But then I can understand wanting to get home before dark, too. Pumps are all set for you. If you could climb down outta there, I’d like to have a quick chat while your people are topping off.” Hale reluctantly made his way to the side hatch behind the driver. His hand wavered for a moment by his M4 in the rack by the hatch, before deciding against grabbing the carbine. Mr. Lazarus was waiting for him by the hatch.

  “Walk with me.” Lazarus strode purposefully towards a pair of ASVs. “Both Guardians are fueled and armed. A little gift for your group, I doubt they’d be here next week. When you get back to your commander, please express to him how important it is to keep control of our assets here. Even if it’s just a rotation of a dozen men, it could make all the difference. Then when they return to base they can take a load of any assets that are needed back with them to your base.” Hale could see the desperation in the old man’s face and felt guilty.

  “I’ll do all I can to get her to agree to mounting a rotating guard force to supplement your forces here. She’s a young lieutenant, so I think I shouldn’t have too much trouble, especially with the offer of supplies to sweeten the deal.” Hale felt confident as he made the promise. The old man in front of him looked relieved. Hale pulled the mouthpiece to his lips and sucked in a sip of water tasting slightly of cherry from the previous owner. They both heard the distant sound of unconcentrated small arms fire, then the old man’s tablet started blaring.

  “This is Rover 2. We have contact at igloo Hotel 79. Have visual on four trucks and numerous dismounted in the woods. So far only light small arms detected. They appear to have taken Soggy Bottom Road and infiltrated the East fence. Aww, crap. They’ve access igloo Hotel 79. Awaiting orders.”

  “Well, shoot back at them, ya damn fool.” Lazarus replied, while searching on his tablet. The sound of automatic weapons fire mixed with the increase of small arms fire directed at the Stryker. The loud thunderous sound of the 105 could be heard as the small arms fire began to drop off.

  “Rover 2, this is Rover. Stop shelling the igloo. Repeat do not shell the igloo!” Lazarus looked pale as he waited for a reply. Corporal Hilton was hollering from the Guardian’s turret and pointing to the east.

  Large billowing clouds, a mix of vibrant blues and greens mixed and swirled together as they rose up to about a hundred feet. All shooting had ceased and dead silence remained with only the ding of the fuel pumps.

  “Sgt Hale, get in your vehicles and head for the west gate. Everything east and north east of us is dead! Do not take the 40 east. This entire area is dead for the next fifty years. Hotel 79 contained bioweapons recovered from the Iranian War. We don’t have any antidotes. It’s a heavily weaponized variation of anthrax that can stay alive for fifty years without losing its lethality. The only way to clean a contaminated area is fire, if it’s a minimum of 300°F. Now move! If the wind changes, you don’t want to be here!” Lazarus ran to his men, who were closing up the hatches of the Stryker. Hale felt sickly as he shouted to his own people.

  “You five,” he pointed to the non-drivers, “break into two groups and get in those two Guardians, then lock down for chemicals. Truck drivers lock down your cabs for chemical warfare. We’re getting the hell out of here before that cloud gets near us!” Hale had used his best command voice he could muster and was pleased to see everyone moving. McBain and Hilton had their hatches shut and were only waiting on him to get in before pressurizing the Guardian. He stopped and took one last look at the vibrant colored clouds of death. He watched Lazarus’s Stryker heading towards the distant cloud as he shut the hatch.

  “Hale, this is Gottlieb, over.” A high raspy voice sounded over the radio. The unprofessionalism hit Hale like a fist, his anger rising.

  “Gottlieb, go ahead.” Hale said angrily as his ears popped from the air pressure inside the ASV.

  “I know a way out of here to the west, then to Surprise. Request permission to take point for return to base.” Oh, thank Christ!

  “Permission granted, depart ASAP. All Stallions, Gottlieb is point, I will be second vehicle. All trucks keep the same position you had coming here. Last vehicle will be the other new Guardian. Prepare to move out.”

  “Gottlieb’s on the move.” Hilton announced over the intercom. Hale felt his shoulders start to f
eel a little less tense as he slapped McBain’s shoulder.

  “Follow that Guardian, keep at least 25 meters behind him.” McBain put the ASV in gear and dutifully pulled in line behind the fast-moving vehicle. “Hilton keep an eye on our rear, let me know if anyone screws up.” Hale reached over and picked up a soda that was wedged against his seat so it wouldn’t roll. The plastic bottle was still half full as he slowly unscrewed the cap, listening to the gas escape. He brought it to his lips the same time the ASV swerved off the packed road and onto a heavily rutted trail. Cola covered the front of his uniform as McBain tried not to laugh. If Gottlieb gets us lost I’ll shoot out both his knees and leave him for the Zs. Oh shit. He looked at his watch and felt a shiver across his whole body. How much longer will this detour take us to get home?

  Chapter 15

  Peterson AFB, Colorado. April 5, 2029

  Caleb instinctively ducked when the first tat tat tat of fire came from an M4. He could see the airman he’d posted to the third bunker laying on his back. He could already sense he was dead. The sentry on top of the bunker nearest them was no longer in sight. He looked for the attackers when he saw the sentry was now on the side of the bunker. Caleb started to call out to him to ask where the shooter was when he saw the flash from the carbine’s muzzle as it was pointed at him. He heard the buzz of the bullets as they passed over him, others hit the side of the trailer, making a pinging sound as they ricocheted off. He fell to the ground as the gunman shifted his aim to the men who had been working out in the open on the pallet, their weapons sitting in the shade of the bunker thirty feet away. The two men in the bunker made it to their weapons. Caleb gave them hand signs to get in position to fire on the gunman. The two men cautiously made their way to the side of the bunker, Caleb tried to shout out as the second man raised his carbine and shot his partner in the back of the head. The shooter then went further back into the bunker, using the pallets of ammo as cover while Caleb opened up on him, while screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs. Looking over at Fields and Barclay, he could see they were safe behind the pallet for the moment. He ran to the pair as both gunmen fired on him.