The Reckoning - 02

by D. A. Roberts

  “We have assets in the area,” she said. “If you can clear the edge of town we will attempt to extract.”

  “How do I know you aren’t the ones who shot at us?” he asked, cautiously.

  “Because they don’t issue Stingers to MP’s,” she replied. “I’m with the 1138th MP[15].”

  “Well, I guess I don’t really have a choice,” he said. “I’ll do what I can. I’ll either see you on the ground or in Hell.”

  “Copy that,” she replied. “How many of you are there?”

  “I don’t know who survived the hit,” he replied, “but we started out with fifteen.”

  “Clear,” she said. “We’ll be there as fast as we can.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of leaving without you,” he replied. “Specter out.”

  I watched helplessly as the critically wounded plane shuddered and started to turn. It was trailing smoke and flames. Fire was spreading up the damaged wing and the tail section was shredded. I don’t know how the pilot was able to keep it in the air, let alone control the crash. With tremendous effort, he brought the nose around and angled the plane almost due west. It wouldn’t pass directly over us, but it would be close.

  “Tell him to put down in the field to the west of us,” I shouted to Spec-4.

  “Specter, we are almost due west of you,” she replied. “When you see us, try to put down in the field just beyond.”

  “Copy that, but I don’t see you,” he replied.

  From behind me, a flare shot into the air. It lit up in bright red and hung in the sky on a small parachute. I turned to see that Jade had fired it. She’d used her emergency gear to signal the plane. I was glad she’d signaled the pilot, but I knew that if the Freemen were watching they knew right where we were. Right now, my first concern was getting to the crew of the plane before the zombies did.

  “We see you,” said Specter. “Adjusting course.”

  Seconds later, he burned in right over the tops of our heads. He was low enough that we could smell the burning fuel and feel the heat from the fire. Behind us, the fighter jets began to rain down fiery death on the city of Springfield. It looked like half of downtown was on fire. I only hoped that they’d done severe damage to the Freemen.

  “Grab the Humvees and one of the Hemmitts,” I bellowed. “Grab anyone who’s got their gear on and let’s move.”

  Seconds later Webber, Winston, Matthews, John Banner, Bowman and Gunny joined me. Winston dove behind the wheel of one Humvee while Webber took the machinegun on the roof. Spec-4 slid into the turret on the Humvee I grabbed. John Banner and Gunny piled in with me while Matthews and Southard jumped into the other one. Big Johnny Bowman jumped into the cab of the Hemmitt and Jade took shotgun beside him. We were all armed and ready.

  “Open the gate!” I bellowed.

  Packer dove inside the truck we were using to reinforce the gate and backed it out of the way. Then Weasel-face opened the gate. Before he was completely out of the way, I punched the gas and shot through the opening. The other vehicles followed close behind me. Since the big plane went down so close to us, I decided to forgo using the road. Instead, I followed the dirt service road that led to the back of the property.

  The plane had landed in the large pasture behind us. There were still cows in the field, which was good. That meant that the zombies hadn’t made it out this far. The plane hit hard and nosed into the ground, digging a furrow almost fifty yards long. The wings had come off and the tail section was broken away from the rest of the fuselage. I didn’t have much hope that anyone had survived that crash.

  I headed right at the fence and crashed through the barbed wire without any effort. The others followed my lead and in seconds, we were bouncing across the pasture towards the wreckage. There were small fires all around it with the tail section completely engulfed. I whispered a silent prayer for the crew of the downed aircraft and that the zombies in the area would be attracted to the ongoing bombardment of downtown Springfield instead of the crash site.

  I could easily count fifty cows in the field around us. I decided right then that we needed to get them inside the Underground. We didn’t need to feed them. We just needed to get them inside the coolers and cut them up. There was enough beef there to feed us for months. Besides that, I would much rather we ate them than the zombies. That would be a terrible waste of steak.

  I slid the Humvee to a stop as close to the wreckage as I dared. We all started piling out and bringing up our weapons. I motioned towards Spec-4 and Webber to stay on the machineguns. They both swung their weapons out and took up a guard position covering our flanks, just in case the dead should arrive.

  I headed towards the main section of the fuselage. I could see six men lying on the deck, not moving. As I approached, one of them stirred and looked up at me. There was blood on his face and neck. I noticed that he wasn’t wearing a flight suit. Instead, all six of them were wearing ACU’s and helmets. Reaching out, I grabbed him by the arm and helped him to a sitting position.

  “Who are you guys?” he asked, confused.

  “Sheriff’s department,” I said. “We’re here to get you to safety.”

  “My men are hurt,” he said, concern in his voice.

  “We’re on it,” I said.

  I noticed the rank on his chest. There were three chevrons and three rockers with a diamond in the middle. It took my brain a second to recall Army rank structure and to realize what that meant. He was a First Sergeant by the name of Gregory.

  “I’ve got you, Top,” I said, helping him to his feet. “We’ve got to get you loaded and back to base. We can’t be here when the dead find this place.”

  He tried to get up and I helped him to his feet. My people began to run in and started bringing out the wounded. We loaded a dozen bodies onto the Hemmitt. I had no way of knowing how many of them were alive or dead. We even managed to pull the flight crew out. Out of the entire crew, First Sergeant Gregory was the only one that was conscious.

  I sent the Hemmitt back with the wounded with instructions to get them to Maddie. The rest of us started stripping what we could salvage off of the C-130. By the time that Bowman had made it back with the second Hemmitt, we’d pulled everything we could. Some of the gear had been in the tail section and was burning. We managed to save the mini-guns and the ammo boxes, plus the gear for all of the soldiers.

  By the time we rolled back inside the gates, the entire plane was burning. Luckily, we were well clear when the fireball rolled skyward after the flames hit the fuel tanks. We pulled everyone back down inside and sealed the gate. I didn’t want anyone topside to attract the attention of any zombie that wandered by, looking for the fireball. If things were clear later, we might try for the cows. Right now, it was more important that we all get safely back inside.

  Maddie had an emergency triage site set up near the entrance to the Hive. I didn’t want to bother her, so I stayed to the side and just watched. Spec-4 handed me an MRE and I opened it with my knife. We both ate in silence while Maddie treated the wounded as best she could. April and the three nurses from the jail medical staff were working furiously, trying to help everyone at once.

  I’m not sure how much time passed, but they covered the faces of eight of the twelve bodies. I noticed that Specter had been one of the ones that had died. That was too bad. He was a hell of a pilot and after everything he did, I really wanted to buy that man a drink. He’d earned it. Those men had died a warrior’s death and I’d share a horn of mead with all of them, one day. They all deserved the warrior’s rest in Valhalla.

  Maddie brought me out of my thoughts when she walked up to me with a grim look on her face. There was a deep sadness in her eyes that hadn’t been there when we met. Slowly she removed her latex gloves and stuck them in the pocket of her smock. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and leaned against the side of the Humvee next to me. I offered her my hip flask, which she took with a nod. She took a quick drink and handed it back.

  “We did all we could,”
she said, softly.

  “I know you did, Maddie,” I replied, putting my hand on her shoulder. “Under the circumstances, you did an amazing job.”

  “I don’t know that I could have saved most of them if we’d been in a fully stocked emergency room.”

  “I know it was bad,” I said, gently.

  “I’ve seen my share of trauma,” she said, looking down. “But I’m not a military doctor. I’ve never lost this many patients all at once. It’s not something I’m used to.”

  “I hope you don’t ever have to, again,” I replied, shaking my head.

  “You’ve got four survivors,” she replied, “a First Sergeant, a buck Sergeant, a Corporal and one of the flight crew. I don’t know Air Force ranks very well. I think she’s a Senior Airman.”

  “How bad are they?” I asked, dreading the answer.

  “The three soldiers will recover,” she said, shaking her head. “They took quite a beating. It may be a few days before they’re back on their feet. The airman has a broken leg and arm. She’ll be out of action for a good long while.”

  “Thanks, Maddie,” I said. “You need to get some rest.”

  “I will,” she replied. “Those young nurses will make sure of that. They worry about me.”

  “We all do,” I said.

  “One more thing,” she added.

  “What’s that?” I asked, turning towards her.

  “The soldiers were all wearing this on their sleeves,” she said, handing me a patch.

  I turned it over in my hand and gazed down at the embroidered emblem. It was a skull wearing a beret with parachute wings and a dagger. I recognized it instantly. I’d seen it many times before when I was on active duty. It was clear in my memory as I thought of my friends from those days. I knew several men who had worn this patch, belonging to a very elite group of soldiers.

  “Rangers,” I said. “I wonder what they’re doing here.”

  “You’d have to ask them,” said Maddie.

  “I plan to,” I replied, staring at the patch in the palm of my hand. “I plan to.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Questions and Answers

  “Strength does not come from winning.

  Your struggles develop your strengths.

  When you go through hardships and decide

  not to surrender, that is strength.”

  - Arnold Schwarzenegger

  I spent most of the rest of that night with my wife and the kids. We ate together near the big cold storage warehouse. One of the security officers, Weasel-face, turned out to be one hell of a cook. He got boxes of frozen hamburgers and corn on the cob, and then fired up a big propane grill he found by the Hive.

  I’m not sure where they scrounged up bread, but I wasn’t complaining. There was plenty of food to go around, for now. One of the cold storage units was for a cheese plant in town, so there was no shortage of cheese. I only wished that one of the cold storage units had been full of beer.

  By the time I had finished eating, Josh Kidman found me. Tossing me my freshly charged Stinger, he motioned for me to step away with him to talk privately. I gave Karen a quick kiss on the cheek and excused myself. My boys were still eating, so I just winked at them as I headed off with Josh.

  “What’s up?” I asked, once we were a safe distance away from the group.

  “Well, I completed a rough inventory of our gear,” he said, handing me a clipboard.

  I glanced over it, nodding in approval. As far as supplies went, we were in good shape. Assuming we didn’t take in another large group of survivors, I estimated that our food would last about six months. That would take us into the heart of the winter. If we could get the cattle down here and into the cold storage units, the meat would last until spring at the least.

  “I took the liberty of setting up an armory,” he said. “There’s no sense in having all of that gear just lying around.”

  “I want everyone who can shoot to be armed at all times,” I said, nodding. “If we get breached, we may not have time to run to the armory.”

  “I’ll see to it,” he said. “Anything else?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Let’s keep the armory access controlled. There’s no reason for it to be open for just anyone to stroll inside.”

  “Who do you want to put in charge?”

  “Hmmm,” I mused, thinking. “How about Johnny Bowman and your girl, Packer? Bowman is good at fixing weapons and Packer has a good head on her shoulders.”

  “Good call,” said Josh.

  “How long will the generators last?” I asked.

  “Well, they’re on the natural gas lines with a propane back-up,” he said. “The natural gas is still working. Miraculously, the lines are still intact. So long as the gas holds out, we won’t need the propane. Once we switch over, the tanks will keep everything going for a couple of months. Longer, if we cut power to sections we’re not using.”

  “Let’s do that,” I said. “Shut down everything but the lighting in those sections. We want the patrols to see where they’re going and not walk into a zombie in the dark.”

  “OK,” said Josh. “I’ll shut down the machinery from the Hive.”

  “Let’s also work on getting those cattle inside,” I said. “We can assign teams into rounding them up if the coast is clear.”

  “I’ve had one of the cameras pointing into that field,” he said, making notes on his clipboard. “I haven’t seen any zombies in the area, so far.”

  “Good, then let’s get that beef inside and cut up.”

  “We can do that in the dry storage area,” he said, making more notes. “It’s out of the way and no one will be able to see it.”

  “Good,” I said, nodding. “That will keep people from getting squeamish.”

  “I’ll get some people on it,” said Josh.

  I reached into my pocket and fished around for a badge. I found the one I was looking for. It was a sergeant’s badge. With a smile, I handed it to Josh.

  “Here,” I said. “Take this. Welcome to the department. This will give your word some weight with the guys who don’t know you.”

  “Thanks,” he said, replacing his security badge with the new one.

  He slipped his security badge into his pocket and tucked his clipboard under his arm.

  “What do you want to do with all the entrails?” he asked.

  “Use as much as we can,” I said. “We can’t afford to waste much anymore. We’ll put the waste in drums and seal them. Then we won’t have to worry about the smell.”

  “Sounds good,” he said. “Does anyone know how to cut up a cow?”

  “Get with John Banner,” I said. “He’s been hunting just about anything you can hunt since he was a kid. He’s gutted and skinned more deer than I have.”

  “I’ll get him, then,” he replied.

  “I’m going to talk to our newest arrivals once they wake up,” I said. “I want to know what they were doing here.”

  “I thought they were bombing targets in Springfield,” said Josh.

  “You don’t bring a squad of Rangers on a bombing mission,” I said. “Besides that, the C-130 isn’t a bomber. The fighters were escorting it for a reason and I want to know what it was.”

  “Good luck,” said Josh, heading off towards the Hive.

  I turned and headed back over to the group and sat down beside my wife.

  “I know that look,” she said, slipping her arm through mine.

  “What look?” I asked, smiling at her.

  “That perplexed look you get when something is on your mind,” she replied, leaning against me.

  “It’s nothing,” I said, kissing her on the head. “There’s just a lot on my plate, right now.”

  “You know you can share some of that burden,” she said, glancing up at me with concern on her face. “You don’t have to do everything yourself.”

  “I know, babe,” I replied. “I’ve got to work on delegating.”

  “The boys want to help out,
” she said, softly.

  “I know they do,” I replied. “The problem is we need every able-bodied person we can get our hands on.”

  “They’re just kids,” she said, sadness in her voice.

  “I know, babe,” I said. “I won’t put them in danger any more than is absolutely necessary.”

  “I don’t like the thought of them carrying guns,” she said.

  “Me either, but I like the thought of them being eaten by a zombie even less. I’ll make sure they understand just how seriously they have to take their responsibilities.”

  “I know you taught them to shoot,” she said, “but it’s my job to worry about them.”

  “Me too, babe,” I replied. “I’ll keep them as safe as possible. They’ll probably be doing internal security with another officer. They won’t be alone.”

  “Don’t let anything happen to them,” she said, almost pleading.

  “I won’t, babe,” I said, stroking her hair.

  After that, pretty much everyone headed for their own sleeping areas. Karen had claimed a set of offices with a small break room as ours. There were couches in the break room and Karen had put the boys to work rearranging the offices so that the boys had one and we had the other. It wasn’t a bad set-up. It was a good night, together. The next morning, I awoke to find Karen was already up and dressed.

  22 April

  “What’s up, babe?” I asked.

  “I volunteered to help cook breakfast for the group,” she said, putting her hair in a ponytail.

  “Take a pistol with you,” I said, sitting up on one elbow.

  “We’re safe inside here,” she said, in protest. “I don’t like carrying a gun.”

  “We’re not safe,” I said. “Not so long as the Freemen and the zombies are out there. I want you to keep a gun on you at all times. We all need to.”

  “I don’t like it,” she said, shaking her head.

  “I know, babe,” I said, reassuringly. “Maybe someday it won’t be necessary, but right now it’s best that we’re armed. If the dead got inside the perimeter, we’d better be ready to fight them.”