by J. W. Vohs
Jack hid his excitement at hearing the name, encouraging his captive to continue by asking, “The medical guy who was helping the president?”
“I guess,” the prisoner shook his head as he explained, “but he ain’t working for the president now. He told us that he could keep the infected off us as long as we cooperated, and we didn’t really have a choice once we saw the valley fill up with thousands of the monsters. Within a few weeks we were farming for Barnes and his cronies. They were a bunch of assholes, so I jumped at the chance to join one of the militia platoons they were forming.”
The still-shivering man stared at his feet as he whispered, “I shouldn’ta done that.”
Jack waited a moment before gently prodding, “Why do you say that?”
“That crazy bastard, Barnes, he’s forcing every settlement he finds to surrender to him or he sends in his monster-army to kill everyone; I’ve seen the remains of one of the fights.”
The prisoner grew quiet again until Jack asked, “How did all that lead you to this bridge?”
“I can’t say for sure, but Barnes is moving that army of his through southern Kentucky right now. My guess is that he wants to make sure he can use bridges like this one to get over the Ohio; the infected don’t like water.”
“Yeah,” Jack agreed, “we’ve noticed that too. So you think he’s bringing the whole army this way?”
“He’s definitely headed north according to the scuttlebutt going around; word is he wants to get into Indiana and Ohio for some reason.”
“The whole army headed this way?” Jack inquired. “Should I get my people out of the area?”
The prisoner’s eyes grew large, “Hell yes! You guys need to run as fast as you can—find an island or something. I’m telling ya’, you’ve never seen anything like this in your life. These creatures ain’t human anymore, and I swear there’s a million of ‘em. Well, not that many, but definitely tens of thousands . . . probably over a hundred thousand. And none of ‘em are damaged either. He’s got herds of cattle following along to keep the creature’s fed; live people are hard to find in these parts.”
“Well,” Jack promised, “we’ll run north and look for a place to hide. How long until this army gets here?”
The prisoner thought about that for a moment before shrugging, “Five, maybe six days. Could take a week, but I wouldn’t take that chance if I was you.”
Jack looked thoughtful before declaring, “I appreciate your honesty.”
“What are you gonna do with us?” the frightened captive asked as Jack stood to walk away.
The tall soldier looked down at the cold, weary-looking militiaman, “I’ll let you know.”
Over the course of the next two hours all of the prisoners were interrogated, and all of them willingly shared everything they knew about Barnes and his army of infected. The Blackhawk crew was despondent, both with families still living at Fort Dietrick, but when Jack told them about the pilots already being held in Fort Wayne they agreed to answer every question asked of them. All of the stories shared by the captives matched closely enough that everyone on the team was convinced that Barnes was definitely headed north through Kentucky, and this bridge figured into his plans. What they couldn’t be sure of, however, was if the Brandenburg area was the only crossing point. Nobody could really envision how much space more than a hundred thousand hunters on the march would occupy, but Jack knew from history that forces of that size had often advanced on broad fronts, along multiple roads.
With the information they had available, they decided to unpack the main radio and share what they knew with Fort Wayne and the second team operating near Louisville. The decision wasn’t without danger, as Barnes’ human troops almost certainly monitored transmissions. The messages would be sent by code, but the most damning information would be the location of the transmission, easily determined using techniques developed more than a century earlier.
Jack had already made several decisions that he wasn’t about to open to debate with the rest of the team, though he already knew that the only possible opposition would come from Carter. His best friend and second-in-command would eventually follow Jack’s lead, but there just wasn’t time for an argument right now. Jack had decided, after gathering the intelligence on Barnes’ movements he so desperately needed, to hold this bridge as long as possible.
CHAPTER 5
As expected, Carter was incredulous when he first heard of the decision to fortify the bridge and remain in place until Barnes arrived, but after hearing Jack’s reasons for holding the span, he had to admit that the plan had merit. The bridge would still be wired with enough explosives to render it impassable. The hunter army would not be crossing the Ohio River here. What Jack hoped to do was simply gain time for the war effort to build momentum. He needed thousands of troops from Utah, whose leaders fully understood they were much better off fighting Barnes in the east than allowing the crazy bastard to destroy all resistance as he advanced across the continent. If the hunter army cleared the Mississippi River, there was no significant natural barrier to their advance until they reached the Rocky Mountains. All of the western troops would have to be assembled from what had become a very regimented society, then moved by rail to the Fort Wayne area. Jack knew that every extra day the Utah government had to mobilize would increase the alliance’s chances of defeating the enemy.
Everyone on the team had been totally focused on keeping Barnes out of Indiana by blocking him at the Ohio River, but now that they knew his plans and general location, they realized that they were almost certainly going to be able to stop his northward advance. Jack was now beyond simply worrying about the need to save his people and their hard-won settlement; now he was thinking of the future by considering the best ways to keep this army of hunters penned up in the southeast. The Ohio River simply grew bigger and stronger until it poured into the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois. From there the continent’s mightiest river flowed unimpeded to the Gulf of Mexico. If Barnes could be kept from crossing those two rivers, he would be forced to abandon his army of experienced flesh-eaters and start over somewhere else. The war wouldn’t be won if the alliance could prevent Barnes from moving north or west with his current force, but critical time would be gained to build and improve the human army that would ultimately have to defeat the mad general.
Luke had immediately seen the plan unfold in his mind, where geography had been ingrained since the earliest days of his education. He also clearly saw the problems.
“Blowing all the bridges over the Ohio and Mississippi would be a lot of work for a pre-outbreak military force,” he pointed out. “How are we gonna get it done with the resources we have available?”
Jack nodded his understanding of Luke’s concerns as he explained, “We need more people in the air and on the water. Hopefully we can add the Blackhawk here to our little squadron. Before we left Fort Wayne, I asked Ted Simmons and his railroad guys to see if they could push a locomotive south; hopefully they’ve found an open route this way. Chad’s unit can defend as well as any force we have available, and I know they’ve been chomping at the bit to get a shot at Barnes. We’ll ask him to bring his fighters here to the bridge.
“As soon as we know we have reinforcements on the way and the bridge is ready to blow, Carter will lead Marcus, Bobby, and David on down the river. I’m gonna ask Lori to organize another bridge-blowing team and have them flown down ASAP.”
He looked at Carter before continuing, “You guys can head on down the Mississippi while she takes care of all the destruction; we really need to know what’s going on along that river.”
At this point David interrupted, “So you’re saying that we just switched from trying to save our asses to fighting for the entire country? You know I have a baby on the way, right?”
In some ways Luke was closer with David than Jack was, and he answered the question first. “We’ve always been fighting for the country, David, the whole world, actually. Your baby will never survive i
f we don’t stop Barnes. Sooner or later he’s gonna get his shot at us. Do you want to fight that battle in Fort Wayne or along the Mississippi?”
David grew quiet, but his jaw twitched rhythmically before he released a long breath. “You’re right, but it’s a lot for me to digest so quickly. I guess if we lose in the south, Christy and everyone else will have the time to evacuate down the Maumee and try their luck on the Lake Erie islands.”
Jack squeezed his little brother’s shoulder in reassurance, “Everything we’re doing down here is for our people back home. This war we’re fighting is gonna have at least two phases. We have to stop Barnes, and anyone else, from organizing the hunters into huge forces and overwhelming the groups of survivors in the country. Then we have to reclaim the land from the packs that are getting smarter and stronger every day. I doubt that we’ll see the end of the war in our lifetimes. As long as the infection remains alive in the world, we’ll never be completely safe from it. Bottom line is that we have to stop Barnes before we can do anything else.”
David knew his brother was right. “Yeah, I get the picture. What do you need me to do?”
“Well, out with it—what does Luke need to know?” Gracie’s voice was shaking as she looked from Christy to Vickie.
Christy didn’t miss a beat. “Actually, you both should know.” The color drained from Vickie’s face, and she opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Christy sounded reassuring, “I don’t want to put a damper on anyone’s potential happiness, but we really do need Father O’Brien to do some scouting farther north. I know you and Luke were planning on getting married as soon as possible, but it will probably take several weeks or more to locate some isolated islands we could use if we need to retreat from here. We shouldn’t rely completely on Middle Bass.”
Gracie looked skeptical. “We won’t have several weeks to wait if Barnes makes it across the Ohio.”
“I have faith that our guys will succeed—at least in slowing him down. It would be foolish of us to assume we won’t need a back-up plan, and some options for a northern hideaway could be the perfect solution.” She looked at Vickie. “The good doctor here pointed out that surviving a northern winter requires planning and preparing. We should start the process as soon as possible. Father O’Brien is an experienced navigator—I think he’s our best choice.”
“That makes sense. I understand, and Luke will too.” Gracie started setting up a meal on the table in front of Christy. “Now you eat. I’ll contact Father O’Brien and let him know what we need.” She smiled at Vickie. “Ever since you guys saved me in Cleveland, you all have been my family. When Luke and I do get married, I want you and Christy to stand up with me. I think bridesmaids’ dresses are out of the question, so you got lucky there. Anyway, you’re both so beautiful I would have put you in strapless fuchsia monstrosities with big bows and polka dots to make sure you didn’t upstage me.”
Christy laughed, “Well, at least the apocalypse was good for something.” She looked at the odd assortment of food before her. “I wonder what we can expect for the rehearsal dinner?”
“I promise no MREs, but that’s the best I can do,” Gracie replied as she slipped on her backpack and headed for the door.
As soon as Gracie had left again, Vickie asked, “So now what? Gracie will be radioing Father O’Brien to send him on a wild goose chase.”
“Not really. It is a good idea to have some designated safe areas where we can hide civilians or rendezvous and regroup. In fact, I am surprised we didn’t think of it earlier.” Christy nibbled at some peanut butter crackers. “The Great Lakes are huge, with plenty of islands to get lost in. Besides, Barnes thinks he’s president of the United States. As far as I know, he didn’t say anything about Canada.”
Marcus and Bobby were tasked with wiring the bridge with explosives, while Carter and David were sent zipping downstream for an hour before sending the radio transmission to Fort Wayne. Jack hoped that any hostile forces would have a difficult time triangulating a radio signal moving along the Ohio, and at the very least, somebody tracking the transmission would think the people responsible for it were at least twenty miles east of the critical bridge. In the meantime, Jack and Luke were going to round up the prisoners and get them into their coats and sleeping bags; all of them appeared to be in the early stages of hypothermia.
Just before sunrise Jack left Luke to guard the captives while he slipped into town with the SUV and a set of booster cables. By the time dawn’s first rays spilled over the Ohio River Valley, the son of an auto-dealership owner was back with a hot-wired bus with which they were able to better block the bridge. As the huge vehicle was being maneuvered into position, Marcus and Bobby reported that the explosives were all in place, and they’d just seen Carter and David’s boat come into view.
Twenty minutes later they all were eating a breakfast of MREs inside the bus, discussing what had been learned over the radio, and considering their next move.
“Ted don’t think he can get any rail headin’ this direction in a hurry,” Carter reported. “He said most Indiana lines run east to west, and them that don’t usually pass through Indy. He’s purty sure he could get somethin’ goin’ in a week or two, but he’d need the kinda set-up we had when we busted through Chicago. I just told him to keep workin’ on the problem with the resources he already has. Chad said he don’t need a train anyway; he’s gonna use the vehicles that carried his troops in from Toledo before the Battle of Fort Wayne.
“He’s plannin’ on bringin’ fifty veterans down; they are bringin’ the 50 cals, but other than that they don’t have our firepower. Every one of ‘em is armored up and ready to fight. They’re bringin’ a bunch of spears and pikes, and the equipment they need to build a better barricade on this bridge. With any luck, they’ll be here before nightfall. The best news I got for ya, though, is what happened in Louisville while I was on the radio with our folks back home.
“John and Tina found a set-up like the one Barnes had here when they arrived. They flew over the bridge and got shot at after the soldiers guardin’ the place realized the Blackhawk wasn’t one of theirs. Nobody on the chopper got hit, but it made John purty mad. They landed on the Indiana shore and moved in with NVGs. Shot every one of the poor bastards on the other side. Then they blew up a hundred-meter stretch of the bridge and headed east to the next one.”
Everybody except Luke was smiling and nodding when they heard about what John’s team had accomplished the previous night; Luke was glad the bridge was gone and his friends were unharmed, but thoughts of the man he’d arrowed a few hours earlier still bothered him. Jack knew what was going on, and after making sure that Lori Alberts was outfitting another river-team that would be on the next Blackhawk available, he took the teen aside for a man-to-man discussion about the sacrifices of being a soldier.
“I’m the one who finished off that guy on the bridge, Luke. I don’t know what your arrow did except knock him down.”
“I know what my arrow did, Jack; the man went down like that because my broadhead cut his spinal cord. I appreciate you giving him the coup-de-grace, but I made a killing-shot on him.”
Jack was silent for several heartbeats before explaining, “I wasn’t much older than you when 9-11 hit and we invaded Afghanistan. My first fight was against the infected when I was Barnes’ driver and me and Carter had to fight our way out of that valley. Every shot fired after that day was against human targets. Most of the time combat was confusing and fast, all of us just opening up with everything we had in the direction bullets were coming from. That was always scary but exhilarating, too. I didn’t like the mess we sometimes found afterward, but I also never really believed I did the killing.
“Then one day we got ambushed in a small village. Carter was the leader of our fire-team, and Bobby was in charge of the squad. Chad Greenburg was the platoon sergeant, and I’m sure Marcus was there somewhere. Todd Evans got hit bad in the hip so we dragged him into a hooch and radioed John to call in a
n evac. The Taliban didn’t realize they’d just jumped a squad of Rangers with Apaches hanging out over the horizon. We chewed ‘em up and spit ‘em out in about ten minutes. The fight was over, Carter had Todd’s bleeding slowed, and we could hear the Blackhawk coming in to get him.
“Just then some idiot runs out into the street in front of where we’re hiding, and gets ready to fire an RPG at the chopper as it cleared the rooftops. I didn’t think there was time to do anything but shoot the guy, so I opened up on him at about fifteen meters.”
Jack frowned and lowered his eyes before continuing, “Those 5.56 rounds kill as well as most military rounds, but they do an even better job of wounding. I mean, they’re only about a third the size of a heavy AK bullet. Anyway, I thought I was missing but most of my shots were right on target. He managed to fire his RPG into the air before he went down, but he wasn’t aiming at anything and the chopper made it in just fine. I went out to look him over a few minutes later; he was so young, barely even a teenager. He was still breathing, just staring at the sky and shaking all over. Most of my bullets had hit him in the gut; but at least one had got him in the chest and he was a goner. One of the medics came over and took one look at him before walking away, shaking his head. The kid saw it, too, knew for sure that he was gonna die.
“For some reason I couldn’t just leave him there alone; I mean, I felt like I would be committing some heinous sin if I just left him there to die by himself. So I sat there without saying or doing anything, just watching bloody bubbles come out of his mouth as he tried to breath. I briefly thought about putting a round through his head to get it over with, but that seemed just as awful as leaving him to die. Finally, he stopped moving and I looked into his eyes just in time to see the life fade from them. I mean, it really seemed like time stopped for a few seconds, almost as if the world just froze. Then Carter shook my shoulder and pulled me to my feet.
