Calgary survived the early days of the plague for two reasons. The first was because it was the headquarters for the Militia in Alberta and had a relatively large number of well-trained and heavily armed troops to assist the Calgary Police Service in dealing with infected. The other was its proximity to southern Alberta and Canadian Forces Base Suffield. While CFB Suffield did not have a Canadian Army unit based there, it was home to the British Army’s training facility in Canada, which had enough equipment for an entire regiment of troops, and as luck would have it, a unit had arrived only weeks prior to the pandemic. With international flights quickly shut down after the start of the pandemic, the British troops were ‘trapped’ in Canada. They were promised that if they helped stabilize the situation, that a military flight would send them home as soon as possible. So they picked up their weapons and helped the Mounties secure the cities of Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, then headed north and helped the Calgary Police Service and Militia to save what they could of Calgary.
Vancouver, also lacking a major army base, had large numbers of reservists and sailors from CFB Esquimalt to help maintain order. They and the police forces in the Lower Mainland had barely managed to cull the infected as they appeared when a massive horde of infected crossed the border from Washington state and swamped them. Less than one in ten Vancouverites survived the so-called Sea-Tac Invasion. Finally, survivors broke into two groups, a large group that fled the city heading north on the Coquihalla Highway in a motley convoy of buses, cars and anything that else they could find, and a far smaller number fleeing aboard ferries to the apparent safety of Vancouver Island.
The sparsely populated territories never really endured the horror of the plague sweeping the globe. But its side effects crippled the Territories and killed 80% of its residents. As society crumbled in the south, supplies of food, fuel and all the other necessities of life stopped abruptly, and generations of Inuit who at one time had survived in the harsh Arctic climate with nothing but bone-tipped spears and hides from seals and walruses suddenly had to fend for themselves. In the smaller, far more isolated hamlets dotting the Arctic Archipelago, there were still elders who either lived or knew of the old ways, and most residents there survived the coming winter – which was mere weeks or even days away for many places. In larger towns and cities such as Yellowknife and Inuvik, the Inuit living there had long forgotten the traditional ways of living and were as dependent on technology to survive as most Canadians.
Generally, rural Canada fared better than urban Canada did. With smaller populations and therefore, far fewer infected, the infection spread slower and was easier to contain. Added to that the penchant for firearm ownership in rural locales meant that those living there were far better equipped to deal with them when they appeared.
In a desperate move to slow the spread of infection, the Canadian government closed its border. This temporarily halted the stream of refugees fleeing north, but shortly after a frustrated US citizen used a firearm to force his way past border guards, the closed border collapsed. He and his family were apprehended a few kilometres north of the border by the RCMP, and after that, although many customs agents had firearms and were trained in their use, border guards insisted on RCMP officers assisting them. This strained resources further and eventually, guards simply abandoned their posts and the border was left unguarded and open.
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One by one, bases across the country began to drop off the communications grid. First, Canadian Forces Base Valcartier was swamped by a horde of infected from Quebec City. Next, Canadian Forces Base Petawawa had sent off a garbled message that the infected had gotten inside. Some of the smaller bases in central and eastern Canada never even sent off a final distress message – one day they were broadcasting and the next they were not. National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa went off the air for good the day after the perimeter at the Parliament buildings had been breached. Other bases collapsed from the sheer numbers of zombies and refugees swamping them. It was always the same, refugees would be let onto the base, one (or more) would be infected and die during the night, and then a rash of infections quickly turned everyone.
Raine realized that he needed to act quickly and got on the radio net and let other commanders in the Canadian Forces know that Canadian Forces Base Edmonton was still very much intact despite repeated attempts by infected to breach the wire, and if they wanted to survive and rebuild, it was as good a place as any to make a stand. In short order, he received replies from several other bases and began trying to coordinate their evacuation to Canadian Forces Base Edmonton. Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake, Western Canada’s premier air base, broadcast a similar message a couple hours later.
Within a few hours, plans were made for forces to gather at Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake. Fighters lifted off from Canadian Forces Base Bagotville and transport planes and helicopters left Canadian Forces Base Trenton. A few ships even left Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, heading north up the coast to Prince Rupert. Smaller numbers of surviving troops who lacked air transport retreated to smaller, more remote bases. In central Canada, troops headed to CFB North Bay, while in the Maritimes, soldiers, sailors, and airmen headed to Prince Edward Island to hold the line there. Whatever could be transported was, and whatever couldn’t, was secured in the armoured bunkers most bases had.
Chapter 21
October 1st
Everyone had just eaten and was huddled around a pair of space heaters, trying to keep warm. They had been set up in the sleeping area, so that people didn’t freeze at night. Generally, once you got up and moving, the temperature wasn’t so bad. Most days, it reached close to plus fifteen, assuming the sun peeked out of the clouds. Cloudy days were a bit cooler, barely reaching double digits, but still nothing too bad. At night though, the temperatures fell to almost zero, which made the interior of Costco a cool place, especially for those used to setting their thermostat at twenty plus degrees at night before going to sleep. For those who wanted, there was an abundance of winter clothing on the tables in the middle of the Costco. Many people had helped themselves to whatever they needed and sat bundled up on the floor. Despite that, some people were still shivering.
“I know all of you are cold right now. Xander and I may have come up with a solution,” Steve said to everyone.
“What’s that, genius?” Donald said sarcastically.
Steve ignored the snide comment and continued, “Right beside Home Depot, there are five giant stacks of pallets. We could grab them and bring them in here to burn. They would probably provide at least a week’s worth of wood.”
“What’s wrong with all the pallets in here?” Donald asked.
“Well, many of them are painted, and they might give off toxic fumes when we burn them. We do have some regular pallets we can burn, and there’s lots of paper for kindling, but if we’re going to go down this road, we’ll need a big supply of wood,” Steve said.
“And how are we going to lug back so many pallets? We don’t have any power, so we can’t use the forklifts. What does that leave, those little handjacks?” Gary asked.
“No, we made sure that both forklifts were hooked up to the charger all the time they weren’t in use. I checked them this morning and they both still have about 80% power. That should be plenty to run out the door by the loading dock, whip over there and grab a couple stacks of pallets each,” Steve replied.
“So what do we do about the infected outside? Quite frankly, I’m not interested in getting eaten,” Jack said.
“We have an idea for that, too. We know that the infected are attracted by noise, so we’ll put everyone else on the roof on the other side of the building, near the tire centre. They can bang pot lids together, play music, just do whatever it takes to get them to all congregate over there. That would give us the time we need to get the wood,” Xander said.
“So who’s willing to help?” Steve asked. “We need two forklift drivers and four or five people for security.”
To ge
t the ball rolling, Steve and Xander both raised their hands. Gary and Todd looked at each other and reluctantly raised their hands. First Jack, and then Fred slowly raised their hands.
“Okay, it looks like we’ve got our group. We’ll also need a couple of people up on the roof near us in case something happens. Are you willing, Donald?” Steve asked.
“No, this is a damned stupid idea. You’re all going to get killed,” Donald replied.
“Look, it’s freezing in here and we could really use that wood to burn,” Steve said.
“Yeah, well, it might as well be on the moon. I ain’t going out there with those things walking around outside,” Donald replied.
“Would you rather freeze to death?” Steve shot back.
“Well, I guess I don’t really have a choice, do I?” Donald countered. “I’ll help so long as I’m up on the roof and not on the ground.”
October 2nd
Dan had been sitting in his cell for almost three days when an alarm began to shrill and then abruptly cut out. He stood up and walked to the bars of his cell and looked out. A squad of troops raced past, all armed with MP-5s and body armour. The last man was Private Davis.
“Yo, Davis, what’s going on?” Dan shouted.
“Someone who arrived yesterday just turned. We’re going to put her down,” Private Davis said as he ran by.
Dan heard the soldiers’ footsteps fade and then a sudden flurry of shots came. In the confines of the prison each shot roared like thunder and reverberated down the hall to Dan’s cell.
After a few minutes, Private Davis followed the squad back up the hall and past Dan.
“Everything okay?”
“Yep.” Private Davis’ normally cheery smile was formed into a grimace and he walked away without another word.
Ten minutes later, a soldier with a sidearm escorted a pair of hazmat suited soldiers struggling with a stretcher down the hall.
Half an hour after that, the two hazmat suited soldiers returned with the stretcher. Lying on top of it was a body bag with the infected person’s corpse inside.
Jesus, that was fast, Dan thought to himself. No dithering or debating, just quick decisive action to deal with the infected. There might be hope for us yet.
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By the time everything had been readied, it was nearly dusk, so Steve and Xander had decided to wait until the next day to get the pallets. Now, after a hearty breakfast and a couple of practice runs, everyone was ready. The kids stayed inside with Evelyn, but everyone else went up to the roof. Donald and Jack went to the south side of the roof and scanned the area for infected.
The rest of the group went to the northeast corner of the roof. Each was armed with every kind of noise maker they could find in the warehouse. Some had pots and pans, a couple had whistles, and a few had some toy instruments they had found.
“It looks pretty clear, Xander,” Jack said into his walkie-talkie.
“Great, we’re ready to go, too,” Xander replied.
In preparation, Gary, Todd, Steve, and Xander had pushed the forklifts to the loading dock to prevent wasting even a drop of energy. Now, Steve, Fred, and Xander stood ready with their weapons, while Gary and Todd sat in the forklifts, waiting.
“Okay, we’re ready, Jessica,” Xander squawked on his walkie-talkie.
“Gotcha!” Jessica replied.
“Okay, let’s make a racket,” Jessica said to the others on the roof.
The group moved to the edge of the roof and many were shocked by the numbers of infected below. Hundreds of infected filled the parking lot below, obscuring close to a third of it. The group started shouting and making as much noise as possible, which the infected noticed right away.
The infected slowly began shuffling towards the Costco, pushing and shoving each other to get as close as possible to those on the roof. Their outstretched hands reached and groped for purchase on the walls, as if they meant to climb to the roof.
In preparation for the trip outside, Steve began unlocking some of the dozen locks that they had placed on the door rails when they first fortified the building. Each one went through the holes drilled into the overhead door rails, preventing the door from being lifted. One by one, he pulled them off, leaving only the bottommost two in place.
The minutes ticked by and Xander felt a bead of sweat roll down his forehead, onto his brow and then down the bridge of his nose. He absently wiped it away with his sleeve. As the time dragged on and on, more beads of sweat formed on his neck and forehead. Doubt began to enter his mind and he started to second guess both himself and the plan. Just as he was about to say something, the little Motorola walkie-talkie chirped.
“It looks like they’re all moving here – give us a few more minutes and we’ll let you know when the coast is clear,” Jessica said.
“Sure thing,” Xander mumbled back into his walkie-talkie. He wiped his brow again.
Again time slowed to crawl and finally, Jessica’s voice came over the radio, “Okay, it’s now or never!”
Steve and Xander hurriedly unlocked the last two bolts and Fred slowly lifted the door, as quietly as possible. Steve and Xander watched over the barrels of their weapons. Once the door was fully up, they each stepped out into the frigid fall air. They scanned the area nearby and after looking around, waved the all clear.
Gary and Todd hopped onto the forklifts and started them. Steve and Fred took up positions facing north, while Xander led the two forklifts south to the stacks alongside the Home Depot. In the background, over the whine of the electric motors, Xander could hear the people on the roof making a huge racket.
Both forklifts moved slowly across the cold ground, avoiding the handful of puddles that had frozen solid. Each one pulled up to a stack of pallets and then stopped. Servos whined as the forks moved to skewer the stacks. First Gary and then Todd grabbed a stack. They slowly lifted it off the ground and then slowly began to back away from the side of the building. Xander stood off to the side, motioning with hand signals to direct them back inside the Costco. After a few tense moments, both were inside dropping off the pallets. There was a clatter from inside the Costco as each set their loads down, then they both re-emerged and each got another load.
As they dropped off their second load, Todd and Gary stopped. Gary looked over to Todd, “You lost the coin toss, get your ass back out there!”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t get your panties in a bunch!” Todd replied.
A few seconds later, Todd emerged from the Costco on his forklift.
More confident this time, he moved the forklift a little faster and quickly got back into position. Again, the forks whined a bit as he lifted the pallets up. Then, he slowly backed away, and instead of waiting for Xander’s signal, turned and moved forward on his own. A few seconds later, the forklift hit a patch of ice and skidded. He gunned the engine and the forklift twirled like a figure skater, sending pallets flying in all directions. One of the pallets hit Xander in the chest and he went down like someone hit by a Mack truck.
The noise from the pallets hitting the ground and the sides of the building was even louder than the noise the others were making. Steve and Fred looked at the mess in horror, then Steve took a few steps and glanced around the corner of the building.
The infected were coming – en masse. Hundreds of infected had abandoned the northeast corner of the building and were moving towards the back of the building.
Steve ran back, shouting, “We’ve gotta get back inside!”
Fred had run to the accident and was pulling Xander out from under a pair of pallets. Xander had a nasty cut on his head and blood was everywhere. Xander coughed and gagged, and blood ran from his mouth. Todd was frantically trying to get the forklift moving, but it was stuck on the ice, wheels spinning.
“Fuck the forklift, Todd, help me with Xander!” Fred screamed.
Todd hopped off the forklift and ran to help, but as soon as he saw the infected round the corner, he changed direction and sprinted for the
door. Fred groaned and heaved Xander into a fireman’s carry and slowly made his way back to the door.
“Get the locks on the door ready,” Steve shouted to Gary as he ran past to help Fred. Together they got back inside the loading dock door seconds before the infected made it there. Even before they were even fully inside, Gary was already yanking on the door to close it. Steve held the door down while Gary started to lock it.
Without warning, the door moved up a few inches, as the infected outside tried to open it. Steve jumped on the footstep and the door slammed down, the metal ringing in finality.
“Get a lock on the bottom next, Gary!” he shouted.
Fred had collapsed next to Xander, exhausted from the effort, while Todd stood in the corner, unable to move.
After the door was locked, Gary hopped on the remaining forklift and put the pallets of heavy furniture back in front it.
Steve ran over to Todd, yelling, “What the fuck just happened?”
Todd stood there, mute.
“I said what the fuck happened, asshole!”
Steve pointed his pistol at Todd’s face. “I’m only going to ask you once!” he screamed. “What the fuck happened?” Steve said slowly, enunciating every word.
Gary was in shock at the scene, while Fred had partially recovered and was trying to staunch the flow of blood from Xander’s head with bandages from a first aid kit.
Todd was frozen with fear and guilt. He stammered, “I don’t know, I don’t know.”
“What happened was, you did something stupid and now Xander is hurt. I ought to throw you outside for them to feed on, asshole!”
Zombie Night in Canada (Book 1): First Period Page 21
