“Do you need an invitation or what? Get in the damn truck before I leave your skinny ass!” Caleb looked up, surprised, that the truck had just materialized next to him. He tried to bring up the gun but could not coordinate his arms to do what he wanted. He then recognized that he was being hollered at from the truck. Grits! You came back for me! He thought while trying to fight his way to a standing position and failing. He looked over at Gloria and hunched his shoulder and then gave her a goofy grin, appearing drunk.
“You damn fool!” Gloria shouted as she jumped from the truck and effortlessly picked him up. She continued to shout at him while in her arms, she managed to open the door and was having trouble shoving him up into the cab, when he grabbed the side of the door and pulled himself inside, collapsing in front of the passenger seat. Gloria carefully shut the door and ran around to the driver’s door the same time as those pursuing Caleb were able to shoot between the boxcars at her truck. The thunk, thunk, thunk of impacting bullets caught her by surprise. She quickly turned the truck, spraying rooster tails of gravel behind her as she headed to the east, parallel to the train.
Heart pounding like a machine gun, Gloria looked to her left and could see a half dozen trucks following her from on the other side of the train, she gave it more gas and could see she was slowly pulling away from the others. A quick glance to the floor by the passenger seat filled her with dread. “What did you think you were doing? Trying to be a John Wayne? Well, John Wayne’s dead, you fool!” Gloria shouted then began to cry unable to stop the tears from coming. “You better not be dead, or I’ll kill you myself, you damn fool!” Gloria said in a softer voice.
Gloria almost cried out in relief when the tracks crossed over Highway 87 and she turned south to head back towards the farm. The lights were getting further behind, and she was able to speed up, when she felt a thump under the hood and all the lights and gauges on the dash either blinked or turned red. The engine screamed louder as the truck began to slow, then a new bang came from under the hood and flames began to come out the wheel wells and around the hood, she could even see flames in the rear view mirror and then heavy black smoke. Smoke began to come in through the vents as she reluctantly decided she had to abandon her ride. She turned off the road and drifted to a stop behind some dilapidated steel buildings.
It looked like it might have been a small quarry she thought, while jumping out of the truck to try and rescue Caleb before the truck totally went up in flames, or exploded. The heat was cooking her legs while she fought to pull him from the cab. Giving one last tug, he fell to the ground, taking her with him. From her new vantage point, she could see the fire clearly covering the entire underside of the truck. She pulled Caleb to her and carried him in a fireman’s carry to another steel building with doors and windows. She kicked in the door effortlessly and dropped Caleb gently into a chair. Turning to head back to the truck, she was almost to the door when the truck exploded, followed by the building’s windows being blown in from concussion, and debris from the truck slamming against the building forced her to take cover.
Looking out the broken window she could see three wheels, their tires melting and maybe half the truck frame. She knew she would never have been able to identify it as a truck if she hadn’t seen it beforehand. Her ears were ringing but were clearing up enough for her to hear the crackle of the truck’s remains roasting when she heard the sounds of engines. Damn it all, it don’t take no genius to follow that smoke right to me. I had all the guns in the world, it seems and all I have now is one .45. How in the world do I do this to myself?
Gloria decided her best defense would be a strong offense. That did not include getting trapped in the building. She ran out the front door and headed for the partial remains of the other steel buildings, planning to hide in the debris and snipe the gangbangers on their way to her. She had a good view of the road, less than thirty feet away, through the numerous holes in the wall. The hard part now was to wait.
The sounds of the truck engines were especially loud for Gloria, between her enhanced hearing, and the silent dawn. The sun was rising behind her and she hoped to use it to the best of her ability. I’ll let’em look into the sun while I just pick them off one by one. Gloria thought.
The trucks didn’t leave the road, instead they pulled up in front of the buildings, trying to scan for life. She could hear them arguing amongst themselves from her position.
“Why the hell we wasting our time chasing this bird? We need to be salvaging what we can and moving on. Those damn townies were probably behind the attack and will come in force now,” a whiny voice shouted.
“I’ll track that bastard to the ends of the Earth for what he did. On my count, everyone put a burst through all the buildings.” Three of the trucks turned their mounted machine guns towards the buildings while everyone else got out of their trucks and took up firing positions. The one giving orders peered through a pair of binoculars towards the building and appeared to stay focused on the segment of wall Gloria was hiding behind. She thumbed her safety to off, figuring she’d take the bastard with her, then he set them down and picked up an AK47. “Fire!” he shouted as he sprayed his rifle fire into the buildings the same time as his people let loose. New holes appeared in the wall around Gloria as she tried to lay flat in the dirt, fighting the urge to pee.
The weapons fire neared a crescendo as the mixed weapons continued their murderous fire into the buildings. Gloria stifled the tears that fought to be released when she looked at the building she’d deposited Caleb in. Her sadness turned to fury as she watched the weapons unloading into the building. She was not even aware of her actions until her .45 went off and she saw one of the machine gunners drop from behind his weapon. The fire slackened as they tried to find the shooter, not realizing how close she was to them. She carefully took aim at the leader, resting the gun barrel on a piece of the wall. She squeezed the trigger as softly as she could, surprised by the recoil, then the explosion. The truck the leader was partially hiding behind was on fire, a new chorus of weapons fire joined the symphony. She could detect the thumping of a Ma Deuce firing and the tonk of an Mk19 grenade launcher. The trucks began to disintegrate and explode under an avalanche of weapons fire.
The sudden silence startled her, she could hear the soft moaning of the wounded mixed with the metal of the trucks contracting as they burned. She came out from her hiding spot and calmly walked up to the remains of the nearest truck. A woman in desert BDUs reached for her from where she lay in a puddle of her own blood. Her face had been half ripped off from grenade shrapnel, her mouth open and closed like a fish out of water, her mouth full of her own blood. She stared at Gloria, her one remaining eye pleading for release. Gloria looked down on her .45 trembling in her hand; she gave a quick thought to Caleb, “Suffer bitch.” She stepped around the woman and saw the next gangbanger on the ground was holding a wounded arm and trying to stop the bleeding
“Help me, please,” he was wearing a leather vest with a One Percent patch, other patches were unreadable. Gloria looked him over and could see he’d likely survive.
“Sweetie, that there is not a bad wound, looks like you’ll pull through.” The biker closed his eyes in relief from her words. He never saw the .45 fire that took off the top of his head. Gloria continued ministering to survivors in her own way, until she heard two engines slowly driving down the road towards her. She looked their way and saw the vehicles looked like something out of a Mad Max movie. There were all types of heavy armament, but the vehicles looked more like oversize dune buggies. She could see they were all in uniforms, but these days that didn’t mean much. She felt exhausted and was ready for what ever happened next. Will God forgive me if I eat a round rather than be taken prisoner again? She wondered darkly.
“Ma’am, are you Grits?” asked their leader. She could make out the stripes, three up and two down, knowing that was a technical sergeant in the Air Force, but wasn’t sure for Army.
“Yes, I am Sergeant…sorry,
I can’t read your name from here. How can I help you?”
“Ma’am, we’re looking for Air Force Lt Caleb White. We were told you were with him.” Sgt First Class Hope said.
“I was going to check on him after cleaning up this mess.” Gloria holstered her .45 and headed to the building, apprehension growing with every step as she observed the numerous holes in the building, her pace quickening until she was running the last thirty feet.
Slamming the door out of her way was the final straw as it fell to the floor. The air was still filled with insulation and stuffing from the chair he sat in. Covering her mouth, she knelt down next to him, amazed at all the holes in the wall and around the chair. She could see no fresh blood or wounds as she checked him over. Two soldiers burst into the building and made their way to him. One immediately began to check his pulse as the other did an inspection of him, observing the injuries to the side of his head and forehead, and noting his pupils were dilated.
“Unless he has other injuries we haven’t found yet, it looks like he may have a concussion, he has a rapid heart rate and both pupils are dilated.” Sgt First Class Hopkins stated.
“He’s had dilated eyes ever since he was infected.” Gloria replied, expecting them to draw away from him.
“Billy Bob, you take the left, I’ll take the right. Let’s get him to the vehicles.” Gloria was ready to argue with the pair and stopped herself when she saw how carefully they picked him up and how gentle they were.
“Thanks for your help. What do you want with Caleb? How did you even find us?”
“Ma’am, he’s being brought back to active duty. If he elects to refuse his commission, he will be reinstated as an airman. He still had his issue note pad. We have an Air Force NCO with us who was tracking it and even managed to get satellite coverage of what was going on. The boy had a full night, well, I guess the pair of you did. Come with us. The ride’s not comfortable, but we can get you back to the farm. I’m pretty sure we can even get you a ride back to civilization in Wyoming. They have running hot water and electricity. What did you do for a living?” Sgt First Class Hofstetter asked.
“Thanks, I’ll go back to the farm with you, however, my destination is Georgia. You make Wyoming sound nice, but I’m persona non grata since I was infected. Shame too because I think I have even more to offer as an Air Force officer. I was an officer until a few days ago myself.” Gloria pulled down her sunglasses to show her dilated pupils to the NCOs. She was almost disappointed her admission didn’t garner a response.
The Special Forces NCOs carefully arranged Caleb so he’d fit in the back of the vehicle while Hope and an Air Force NCO continued to keep alert for any trouble now that it was daylight. Gloria checked on Caleb while the others had a brief discussion, Gloria managed to pick up only a little “…If the lieutenant is broken, it looks like we have a spare, that black chick’s infected also and claims she was an Air Force lieutenant to boot.” Gloria didn’t sense any danger or hostility but did decide she should make herself scarce as soon as they got back to the farm.
“Let’s load up and head back to the barn.” Hope’s order was met with mixed laughs and groans. “Lieutenant, I’d like for you to ride with me.” Gloria thought she’d need to be a contortionist to climb in over the bars and squeeze in behind the machine gun for the front passenger seat. She tried to arrange the straps until she recognized that it was a five point harness and easily strapped herself in. Hope climbed in behind the steering wheel and quickly connected himself.
The older NCO was smiling, but Gloria could sense something was wrong with the man. He surprised her when he pulled off the road to turn around, she expected him to hotdog the heavily armed dune buggy. Instead he went slowly until the other buggy was right behind, then he smoothly opened up. Gloria would have been laughing and enjoying the wind in her face if it wasn’t for Caleb laid out in the back of the vehicle.
Gloria was sure they were getting close to the farm when she saw the road was blocked. It took a moment to realize it was a C-130 on the pavement, it just seemed so out of place to be here. The rear was open and the aircrew quickly ran to position themselves to guide the buggies up the rear ramp.
Hope slowed, then followed the aircrews’ gestures to drive up the ramp of the plane. The plane represented normalcy to Gloria and she felt comforted being inside, then she remembered what awaited her if she returned with the plane. She unbuckled and was going to make her way back to the farmhouse and her truck of supplies when Sgt First Class Hope grabbed her arm lightly.
“Ma’am, I know what’s going on when they find folks like you and the lieutenant, it’s a screwed up world. White could probably use a friendly face when he wakes up. We came all this way for him, if he can’t be used, we’ll need you. I give you my word no one is going to lay a finger on you. We have a mission that may be the most important mission ever in Earth’s history. Please come with us.” Oh crap, am I sucker or what? Caleb will need me when he wakes up.
“Let’s go before I change my mind.”
Chapter 21
Douglas, Wyoming. April 14, 2029
The chill from the floor woke Abrams. He looked around wondering why he was on the hallway floor of the hospital. In front of him the small door was open and he could see the infected patient still asleep on the padded floor. Dang it, I have to know. Abrams slammed the door and then looked again for the slightest movement. He glanced down at his watch and saw it was 0100 hrs.
“Water,” the patient stammered softly, barely discernible. Abrams lifted himself from the floor and ran to the break room to grab a plastic bottle of water, running into Bunny.
“It worked! I have the cure for The Infection!” he pushed past her to get the water while she ducked into an empty examination room and picked up the phone.
“Yeah, I tell ya, it works. The doc almost pissed himself, he’s so excited that he’s going to cure the world. I’ll be out of this shithole and back to a real city making real money again.” Bunny exclaimed happily over the phone.
“Bunny, you tell the doc that the president is hurt and we’re sending a car for him. Tell him discretion is very important in the matter!”
“What happened to him?” Bunny asked worriedly.
“Bunny, make sure to come with and you can see for yourself. Now keep the doc’s big news a secret, and the president’s, too. Bye, Baby.” Bunny excitedly ran down the hall to the door to the patient’s room. She was surprised to see it open and the doc sitting on the floor next to him as he drank water.
“Dr Abrams, we just got a call from the president’s residence. The president is injured and they’re sending a car for you. They don’t want any publicity.” He looked up at Bunny, obviously upset.
“I’m helping Corporal Albert Connors rejoin the human race. That’s more important than certifying the president is a drunk and a druggie. Crap, that’s what I get paid for. Corporal Connors, Albert, I believe you are ready to rejoin the human race. Until I can run some tests, I have to leave you here for observation. When I get back, I’ll move you to another room with furniture. I’ll contact your Guard unit and let them know I’ll be releasing you soon.”
“Gee, doctor, you think you’ll get that whatchamacallit prize or medal for finding the cure? You’re going to be responsible for saving the world! And I was here to witness it. Wow.”
Abrams tried to tune her out, happy to be in just the moment for curing the Corporal. Crap, it’s going to be a big thing for the rest of my life. I’ll be in the history books and medicine books. I wonder if fortune will follow fame.
“Uh, Bunny, why are you coming with me?” Abrams asked as he entered the elevator.
“My friend, Mr. Falstaff, asked that I come, too. Please let me come. I want to see the look on the president’s face when you announce you have the cure for The Infection.”
A black limo was parked outside the emergency room door. The assistant driver had the look of an overly developed bar bouncer, stood next to the back door,
wearing an ill-fitting expensive suit. When he saw Bunny, he opened the door for the pair. Saying nothing, he slammed the door behind them before getting in the passenger seat next to the driver. Abrams sat and imagined his future and the billions of people who would owe him gratitude for the rest of their lives.
“Dr Abrams, Mr. Falstaff is waiting for you on the back patio. Just follow the sidewalk around the house please.” The bodyguard said.
“Come on, Doc. I know the way,” Bunny said excitedly, pulling his hand as she tried to race to the back of the house. Falstaff was sitting in a lawn chair, appearing to appreciate the view of the golf course by moonlight. A serving cart sat next to the chair with a variety of premium alcohols.
“Bunny, Dr Abrams, thank you for coming at such short notice.” Noticing the bag in Abram’s hand he continued, “The emergency has passed. You won't need your bag after all. I hear commendations are in order for you. How has everyone received the word that you’ve saved the world?”
“Actually sir, you and Bunny are the only ones who know so far other than Corporal Connors. He seems to be doing really well.”
“It’s a shame that the world is not ready to be cured, Dr Abrams.” Falstaff nodded to the bodyguard and he pulled out a small pistol with a large silencer. From five feet away, he put a slug in the doctor’s chest and then one in his head before doing the same for Bunny.
“I’ll miss that girl. She was a lousy conversationalist but what a tiger in bed. Muhammad, that was a good job you did there. I thought the pistol would be quieter.”
“The only way I could have done it quieter would have been with a knife. Would you prefer me to use a knife next time, Mr. Falstaff?”
“No, that’s fine. Hopefully we’ll never have to do this again. I guess I’m just paranoid.” Such a shame, I’ll have to get rid of you next since you’re the only witness.
Infected World Trilogy (Books 1-3): They Only Come Out At Night Page 74
