“Todd, don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Xander said. “I should be pissed at you for what happened, but it’s not your fault. You shouldn’t have gone outside. None of us should have. I’ll level with you; I was going to call the whole thing off about ten seconds before we went outside. We all get scared and hesitate. We also get overconfident and let down our guard. But with all those infected outside, we can’t, not even for a minute. You and I both know exactly what will happen if even one of those bastards gets inside here.”
Todd swallowed nervously, then nodded.
“Look, just do your best and if you think you aren’t up for something, let us know. We can’t afford any mistakes. It may hurt your pride, but we’d all prefer to know before we step out those doors that someone isn’t 100%.”
“O-o-o-okay,” Todd stammered and then walked away.
After he was gone, Steve appeared from behind some boxes. “You went pretty easy on him.”
“Tearing him a new asshole wouldn’t have fixed anything – besides I heard through the grapevine you already did. Rumour has it he needed a new set of underwear after you got through with him.”
“Yeah, I kind of lost it,” Steve said sheepishly. “But he deserved a shit-kicking for what he did.”
“I’ve seen lots of young guys make dumb mistakes, and most times, they punish themselves far worse than anything I could do,” Xander said. “Todd will learn from this, trust me.”
“Okay, if you say so,” Steve said, turning to leave.
“Hey, Steve,” Xander said.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks,” Xander said.
---------
The small convoy wove its way slowly through the wreckage-filled city streets. It consisted of four APCs, three engineering LAVs, colloquially known as E-LAVs, each equipped with a dozer blade and Nanuk remote weapons systems, as well as a single Coyote Reconnaissance Vehicle.
Captain Penner sat in the command vehicle, the Coyote, standing up in the turret, with her upper torso fully exposed. This gave her an unobstructed view of the surroundings. Standard operating procedure during the crisis had been to keep all vehicles buttoned up, so as to prevent troops from becoming infected. However, Captain Penner felt it was more important to have a clear view of the area, instead of relying on the vehicle’s cameras and sensors.
When it had been introduced in 1999, the Coyote was one of the world’s most advanced reconnaissance vehicles, equipped with a dizzying array of sensors and cameras, which operated in a variety of spectrums, from infrared to night vision to normal lighting. It had proved its worth when it had been deployed to Afghanistan as part of Canada’s commitment after 9/11. Coupled with sniper teams and other units, it had proved incredibly effective at locating and targeting insurgents at vast distances. Now, close to two decades later, the platform was still highly capable, however, for the most part, the Coyote’s highly advanced sensor array was of little use in an urban setting, mostly due to the closeness of obstacles and buildings. The Coyote’s infrared system was essentially useless because the body temperature of those infected dropped to match the surrounding environment, making them practically invisible to IR sensors
The patrol’s route had been carefully plotted, following a combination of major roads and bus routes, to ensure that the LAVs could actually maneuver. Many of the narrower side streets simply wouldn’t have enough room for the extra wide vehicles to move – especially if there was wreckage of any sort on them.
So far, the trip had been uneventful. Despite this, Captain Penner gripped the pintle-mounted heavy machine gun tightly and was incredibly vigilant. The convoy slowed, then stopped, waiting for the lead vehicle to push aside another wreck. It started up again and came around a corner, heading south.
Suddenly the lead E-LAV stopped and the radio crackled. “There are tons of infected up ahead,” Corporal Webber said, the NCO in the lead E-LAV.
Penner picked up the mike and replied, “Can you give me a ballpark number?”
“Hundreds, maybe even a thousand or two,” Rogers answered.
Penner ducked inside her APC. “What is in the area that might attract so many infected?”
“The only thing on the map is a school, ummm…Bishop Greschuk Catholic Elementary School,” Sergeant Guerin replied, her platoon leader.
“What’s the call, Bravo Two-Three?” Corporal Webber asked.
“Let me ask the HQ what we should do,” Penner said.
“Bravo Two-Three to Charlie Foxtrot, come in, over,” Penner said into the radio mike.
“Go ahead, Bravo Two-Three,” Lt. Colonel Burkhart replied.
“We may have come across survivors, request permission to engage large number of infected, over.”
“Can you fire without harming the survivors, Bravo Two-Three?”
“Yes, sir, we have a flanking shot on the infected. No fire will need to be directed at the school where they might be hiding, over,” Penner replied.
“Bravo Two-Three, permission to engage authorized, but if it gets too hot, bug out, over,” Burkhart said.
“Roger, Charlie Foxtrot, out,” Captain Penner replied.
“Okay, Bill, how do we take out that many infected with such a narrow firing front?” Penner asked.
“If we can maneuver another E-LAV beside the point vehicle, the Nanuk turrets can tear them apart. That’s a good 100 metres from the infected. I think our chain gun can also fire over the E-LAV’s hulls,” he said, patting the gun barrel beside him. “That will create a kill zone and I’m sure we could get all of the infected with little threat to us. If not, we’re far enough away to bug out if infected start coming out of the woodwork.”
“Makes sense. Let’s also get the last E-LAV to make sure we have a clear escape route out of here just in case. If we get surrounded by thousands of infected, we’re stuck here. While the General said we’d have backup, I doubt he’ll be willing to risk more troops to save our lowly asses,” Penner said.
Guerin nodded and began relaying her orders.
The E-LAV bringing up the rear began pushing aside wrecks while the other two lined up in preparation to fire. Occasionally, an infected would glance up the street at the APCs, but not one moved in their direction.
After a few minutes of careful maneuvering, all three vehicles were in position, with the last E-LAV sitting fifty metres behind them, turret pointed outwards, ready to cover their escape, should it become necessary.
“Okay, troops, let them have it!” Penner said into the radio.
The fifty caliber machine guns on the two E-LAVs opened up, joined a second later by the Coyote’s. Heavy machine gun fire smashed into the group of infected and knocked them over like bowling pins. Rounds tore through multiple infected, ripping off arms, legs and cleaving torsos in two. Then the Coyote’s 25mm Bushmaster automatic cannon began firing. When one of those huge rounds hit an infected, it tore apart the victim, leaving nothing but chunks of rotting flesh and a stain on the road. Slowly, the infected turned towards the vehicles and stumbled towards them. More infected were mowed down by the hail of fire.
After less than a minute of firing, the Nanuk remote turrets on the E-LAVs stopped firing, having emptied their magazines. The infected kept coming, but numbers were down to a few hundred. On the ground, remnants of infected, victims missing arms and legs, crawled ponderously towards the APCs. A pair of unlucky troops from each E-LAV climbed out of their armoured safety to reload the remote turrets.
With a click, Penner’s fifty cal ran dry, too. She hurriedly reloaded, shouting, “Sergeant, get a section on the deck to fire!”
The rear door opened and eight troops clambered out, cautiously scanning the immediate area for threats. Seconds after the last one stepped out, the rear door whined and gears began to close it. The troops climbed atop the E-LAVs and began firing, their rifles making a distinctly higher pitched noise than the deeper, throatier heavy machine guns. The rifle fire, however, was far more accurate, and each time one
barked, an infected fell, never to rise again.
Soon, the Nanuks were reloaded and their guns again joined the action. The last standing infected were wiped out more than twenty feet away from the skirmish line.
“Sergeant, looks like we need some more troops topside to eliminate the ones crawling along the ground,” Penner ordered.
Another section disembarked from one of the E-LAVs and went topside and fired into anything crawling in their vicinity. It took most of an hour, but the infected were all wiped out, and without loss to the troops. During that time, the occasional infected would shamble out from a derelict house or some side street. They too were met with a wall of lead and dispatched.
Then Captain Penner ordered the E-LAVs and the Coyote to park out front of the school, which had most of its windows boarded up from the inside and main doors blocked with empty cars.
“Hello, inside!” she shouted over a bullhorn. “Are there any survivors?”
Minutes ticked by, and Penner could see someone taking boards down from one of the windows. A voice shouted from inside, “Yes, there are lots of us in here!”
“Sergeant, let’s make preparations to evac them ASAP,” Penner ordered. She quickly heard Guerin radioing in the good news and requesting transportation for the survivors.
After the area was fully secured, Captain Penner dismounted and learned exactly how many ‘lots’ was – 137 people to be exact, mostly families with lots of small children. The troops sat exposed for close to an hour while suitable transport was arranged and then made its way from the base. Thankfully, the trip back was routine.
Chapter 24
October 5th
The debrief seemed to take forever. Instead of a typical one-on-one interview, a large number of officials were there, several high-ranking police and military officers, the mayor, and a number of others who were never identified. Dan was grilled for hours about his conduct over the past two weeks. In detail, he spoke of the loss of his family, the patrols he and Ed had undertaken, the losses his fellow police officers had suffered and finally, the fall of the North Division police station. He was careful to leave out certain things, like many of his fellow officers’ opinions of city officials and so on, but otherwise he left nothing out. Then, after telling his story, they went back over it and made him expand each event with extra details, while others fed him back his story, slightly altered, trying to trip him up and get him to admit wrongdoings. Of course, because Dan had told nothing but the truth, they were unable to trip him up.
“Well, Officer, it looks like you did your very best, why don’t you head on over to the 1 Field Ambulance building – it’s where the rest of the city personnel are located,” Mayor Scott Johnson said.
“Yes, sir, one question, did anyone mention the dozen police officers holed up in the old police station on 66th Street?” Dan asked.
“Yes, but by the time we could send someone to evacuate them, they had all been killed,” Johnson replied. “I’m sorry.”
Dan felt like someone had punched him in the gut. He stood, saluted those present and walked out. He found Corporal Green waiting outside for him.
“So, which was worse, the physical or the debrief?” Green said sarcastically.
“Both of them went way too far up my ass for either one to be considered pleasant, but if I had to choose one or the other, I’d rather have another physical,” Dan said with a chuckle.
Corporal Green passed him an envelope which had his meager personal belongings in it.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Green said, handing him a hanger with his camouflage uniform. “Just in case you change your mind,” she said, winking at him mischievously.
Then she led him outside to the parking lot. The parking lot was full of vehicles, and it took him a moment to find his cruiser.
“Don’t be a stranger, Sergeant,” Green said as she turned around to head back inside.
“What, no kiss?” Dan shot back.
Smiling, Green turned around and blew him a kiss, waved and then was gone. Dan chuckled and walked over to his car. He bent over to look underneath it and then stopped – the parking lot had to be clean or all those VIPs who grilled him inside would have ripped new ones on the troops standing guard nearby. He paused then squatted down and looked anyways.
“Better safe than sorry,” he said to himself.
Dan got in and started up his car, then shifted into gear and drove. A minute later he was at the 1 Field Ambulance building. The parking lot nearby was full of City of Edmonton vehicles, including a half dozen cruisers and a number of trucks from the transportation department.
Dan parked his car and walked to the building. At the door, a young police officer stood guard, holding a rifle.
“ID,” he said perfunctorily.
“Do I look like I have my wallet? I’m from North Division and I think the car and the uniform should be plenty,” Dan said, jerking his thumb at his cruiser.
“Sorry, Constable, I’m not authorized to let in anyone without ID,” the guard said.
“Then get your supervisor out here,” Dan replied.
The guard spoke into his radio and a few seconds later, the door opened. Out stepped Officer MacLaren.
“Dan, you old bastard, great to see you made it! Where’s Ed?” he asked, craning his neck to look around the parking lot.
Dan shook his head slowly.
“Damn!” MacLaren said. “Sorry, I know you two were close.”
“Don’t worry, Roberts, he’s one of us,” MacLaren said to the guard, who nodded to Dan as they walked inside.
“How these guys nab you? I thought you were sticking it out at West Division?” Dan asked.
“That was the plan, we stayed there another day and then had to evacuate on account of the huge numbers of infected pounding on our doors. We figured the base was our best bet, so we got on the Henday and raced here. We damned near got blown away by a big ass LAV, but most of us made it,” he said.
“Did you give the mayor a piece of your mind?” Dan joked.
“Not yet, haven’t really had the opportunity,” MacLaren shot back. “I just got out of quarantine yesterday.”
“So, when can I get supplies and head back into the city? There’s lots of people still stranded there that need to be evacuated out,” Dan asked.
“Ummm, somewhere between not now and never,” MacLaren said with a scowl.
“What do you mean, never?” Dan asked, frowning.
MacLaren looked around and then pulled Dan into a small room.
“Well, for the most part, the prevailing opinion on the base is that we, aka Edmonton police officers here on the base, abandoned our posts and ran, instead of fighting and dying like professionals,” MacLaren replied. “So they’re dicks and make it as difficult as possible for us to go back and do something – things like fuel and ammunition are given out only after we beg and plead for it, then they make us jump through a million hoops to get out of the base. To top it off, when we come back, we have to spend another five days in that boring prison under quarantine. In case you didn’t know, half the people in quarantine are other cops. If I didn’t know better, I’d think these goddamned CF guys just want to rub our noses in the fact that we couldn’t stop the infection from spreading!”
“What the fuck?” Dan barked. “Seriously, that is fucked, all these assholes did was hide behind trenches and barbed wire, while we went toe-to-toe with the infected every day for three weeks, until there were none of us left. Fuck, I fought the infected hand-to-hand dozens of times.”
“Hey, you’re preaching to the choir. Of course, they claim they were ordered to stay on the base by the government, but that’s bullshit – I know I saw footage from down east of troops fighting the infected in Montreal, Toronto, and half a dozen other cities.”
“So what do we do, then?” Dan asked.
“Well, if you want to go back into the city and help, there are two options – go by yourself and hope you survive, or act as a scout for
base patrols. For all their firepower and technology, these dumbasses can’t find shit once they get a few blocks inside the city.”
“Do I look like Davy-fucking-Crockett?” Dan shot back.
“Well, if you go out with a patrol, they don’t make you go through quarantine again – they just make you take a physical to make sure you weren’t bitten or infected,” MacLaren replied.
“What the fuck do they need us for? Don’t they have GPS? Or spy satellites or something? Hell, even Google Earth would be enough to get around,” Dan said.
“Apparently there was some fuck-up and HQ never updated their GPS units. And the Internet is spotty as hell, I wouldn’t want to go out there relying on the half-assed information,” Maclaren said, then shrugged his shoulders. “I guess they just want the best information possible.”
“And if I don’t want to play scout?”
“Then you can sit on your asses and hope the politicians here can convince the general running things here to let us do our job,” MacLaren replied. “Come on, let’s go get a coffee.”
Dan just shook his head and followed MacLaren.
---------
As the days dragged on, Xander and company had to find things to do to keep themselves amused. Until the power ran out, they could always watch TV, play DVDs, or even surf what was left of the Internet. After the power went out, it was more difficult finding ways to entertain themselves. Some people played games on their smartphones, but had to limit their time playing because there was only one extra solar charger to recharge batteries. Costco had all sorts of things inside, like toys for the kids, board games and books for all ages, even a fair-sized magazine rack. But after a while, Monopoly and Cosmopolitan just didn’t cut it.
So people were forced to find other activities. And find them they did. One of their favorites was dumping buckets full of their waste on zombie’s heads. After the power died, the water pressure cut out and there was no water for the restrooms – so a temporary toilet was set up near the back of the store. Worried about the smell and possible disease, it was decided that the sewage would be stored in sealed buckets. From there, it was just a matter of time before some smart ass – in this case Donald – came up with the idea of lifting a bucket to the roof to dump on the infected’s heads. Originally, Donald had hoped it would mess the infected up and they’d attack each other, but that never happened. In fact, it didn’t make one bit of difference to the zombies, but for some reason it raised the morale of anyone who did it – and occasionally those who watched it happen. The only thing it did was renew the infected’s interest in those inside, and after getting a bucket full of shit dumped on their heads, they’d start moaning and staring at the group laughing on the roof.
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