Zombie Theorem (Book 4): Aces Mortis

by James Wallace

  Lupo moved the sights again when he heard children screaming. He came upon a large muscular man holding a small boy up in the air with a gun pressed against the child’s body. “Let me go or I will kill this small boy. I don’t give a fuck, trust me I will do..” is all the man got out when the top of his head disappeared as Hashkeh’s axe chopped through it. Then he was there catching the child and swinging him around, hunching his body around the child. The body of the man fell to the ground, coming to rest as the lips were still trying to form words. Chun and Butch arrived in a second and helped round up the children and women. Hashkeh raised his hand in the air and gave the sign for Lupo to come in.

  Lupo slung his rifle and grabbed his pack, gas containers, and Hashkeh’s pack. He trotted through the scrub brush and small trees, making a beeline for the camp. When he had arrived, Butch and Chun had rescued and gathered the women in the center of the camp. Hashkeh walked up, trailing a line of various aged children. In his arms, he carried a little blonde pigtailed girl, who looked to be around seven. She had bruises all over her and was wearing the tattered remains of a blue dress complete with ruffles. She hid her face in the big Navajo’s chest. Her shoulders hitched as she sobbed lightly. Hashkeh ran his massive scarred hand tenderly down her back and cooed to her in what Lupo correctly guessed was his native language. All the men had heard Hashkeh speak words in his language at times of pure stress or immense sorrow.

  Hashkeh looked down to Lupo with a tear breaking from his left eye and rolling down his flat brown cheek. Lupo patted the big man on his elbow and busied introducing himself to the young train of children. He got on his knees and cooed to the crying ones.

  Chun pulled two women aside and spoke softly to them. “I am Lieutenant Chun with the Navy, I guess you can guess the American one. Can you do me a favor and give me the skinny of what was going on here?”

  The older of the two women, Chun guessed she was in her forties, because of the light wrinkles lining her face and slight white at the temples of her once golden brown hair, stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the stoic Seal. “Most of these women, and children are from the Tina Watson house for battered women and children of family abuse. We had hunkered down when we saw the stories on the television, about the dead coming back to life and consuming the living,” She pulled away from Chun and looked up to him, wiping the tears as they cascaded down her cheeks. “Our home is a former school from the early forties and came equipped with an old bomb shelter. We had food and water, enough to last us for months. We were doing fine, in our little shelter and had settled into a routine, sure that the government would get this thing under control. About two days ago, a couple of men showed up in big black four by four trucks, they were wearing military clothing and said they had been sent to bring us to their camp to protect us. I wasn’t very convinced at first, and started asking them questions. I asked what branch they served in and what base they were from. See my husband, God rest his soul, Tommy, was in the Marines and we have lived on a lot of bases. So, when they started answering me, I knew they were full of shit. I asked them if they could come back in a couple of hours, to give me time to get the women and children ready. They agreed and left, the minute their truck’s dust cloud disappeared, I started packing supplies and sending the women and children away in different directions. Doing what I could to save as many as I could,” she lost it at that point and started sobbing, they wracked her entire body. Chun, opened his arms and pulled her into a deep embrace as she sobbed into his chest.

  The other woman, a younger version of Tina, but with short pixie like blonde hair took up the story. “Tina is my mom, we owned and operated the facility together; ever since Dad died over in Afghanistan, five years ago. Mom pushed the women to go and was just preparing the last group to go with her when the men came back. They seemed angry that so many women and children were missing. They slapped mom around a bit and started tying up the children and stealing our supplies. More and more vehicles appeared as their friends showed up. They took the children first, loaded them up in a big white panel van. Anyone who voiced objection or tried to stop them was savagely beaten. The only two men in our facility, the Allen brothers, were beaten merciful and then killed, in front of us when they tried to fight back. I’ve known those guys since I was a little girl. They were my daddy’s friends and helped us with trying to help others. They didn’t deserve the kind of things those men did to them. William, the oldest of the two, had his legs broken and tied to a post the kids played tether ball on. They did things to him, bad things. The more he screamed or tried to fight back the worse they did to him. When they were done, they slit his throat and left him to bleed out. His brother Craig, was worse. I can’t even describe the things they did to him, and the worst is everything they did, they made me and my mom watch the whole thing. Craig, though was tough, he broke through his bonds and attacked one of the men. He gouged the man’s eyes from his head and killed two other men with his bare hands. He tried to get to his brother but then that big fat bastard Bubba, their leader, came over and hit Craig with one of the children’s baseball bats. He kept hitting him all over his body, breaking bones and laughing every time he swung that bat. Craig never stopped moving though, in the end he had crawled to his brother’s side and taken one of his hands in his own. Bubba stood over him laughing and calling him terrible names. Craig had raised his head then and spit a huge ball of saliva and blood onto Bubba’s chest and smiled at him. Bubba looked down at the blood and then grinned as he smeared and rubbed the blood into his own chest. He used that dented and battered baseball bat to smash in Craig’s head, caving it in and spraying chunks of brains, tissue, and blood through the air. Those men slapped my mom around, demanding she tell them where she sent the missing women and children. When mom wouldn’t tell them, they beat her more and made her watch as they,” her words trailed off, as she dropped her head to her chest and started to shut down. Butch, who had been standing to the side listening to the incredible story, wrapped her into his arms and when she resisted he just held her tighter. Allowing her to let all the anger and soul wrecking pain ebb from her in waves.

  Tina, at hearing her daughter breaking down, released herself from Chun and stepped to her daughter. She rubbed the woman’s back and stroked her hair. “They broke me then. My daughter is the last thing I have left in this world. I told them everything, I let down the women and children who trusted me to protect them. They brought us to this camp, and we have been here for three days as captives and whores for their men. Each day they had brought more and more of my people back here as they caught them. Then God sent me four of his avenging angels to save us in the form of you. Are more soldiers going to come and protect us?”

  Chun opened his mouth to speak when the big Navajo stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. Hashkeh handed off the small girl in his arms to Tina and then raised his voice and stood tall. “No one is coming. We must leave and help others. But we will stay and teach you how to use these men’s weapons and help you learn to protect yourselves. When we have completed our mission out there,” he motioned with his chin to the south. “I will come back and take you to safety myself. Until then ladies and children, look to your mother Tina for guidance and strength.” He then lowered himself to the ground and onto one knee. He dropped his head and said words no one understood.

  Tina, stepped forward and put her hand on the man’s head. “You are Navajo,” she said in a quiet voice.

  “I am.”

  “I know your people, from when we lived near the four corners. They are proud warriors and I made many friends amongst them.”

  “We are, and we always keep our promises,” He stood back up and took the woman’s dainty small hand in his. He turned to Chun, who was visibly not happy with the big Navajo’s promise. “Sir, if you can bring the SUVs and men down here we can get to helping these women. I am sure they would be happy to share some of their new found fuel and supplies with us.”

  Chun took his time
thinking over Hashkeh’s words and came to a decision. He clicked on his radio and called out. “Hootie, you and the guys pack up the transports and rendezvous with us. Over.”

  The radio clicked back almost immediately. “Kind of already did Lt. If you look to the west, you should see us coming up on you now. I sure am glad you called us though. Rascal was sure you were going to flay me alive for taking the initiative,” Chun heard Rascal laughing in the background before the radio clicked off.

  Butch tilted the young lady’s head back and gave her a wink and smile. “Everything is going to be okay now, Miss,” he said aloud. And then in a whisper only she could hear. “My sister was also raped and beaten, she never let the travesty of that night stop her from becoming one of the strongest and baddest women I have ever known. You can use this to make yourself better, or you can wither and die. The decision is yours, but if you are half as strong as your mom there, I think you will be the latter,” he kissed the top of her head tenderly and wiped away her tears.

  “Name is Kris, not Miss,” she gazed up at the deadly looking soldier and surprised him when she raised herself to her tiptoes and kissed his cheek tenderly. “I will survive, and I will overcome. My daddy raised a Marine not a wimp like those in the Air Force,” she giggled and blushed when Butch let out a roar of belly laughter and lifted her off her feet and swung her around.

  “Spoken like a true bad ass!”

  The SUVs pulled up then and the rest of the men appeared taking in the sights around them and coming to the same conclusions. They had seen sights like this before in Iraq and Afghanistan and a dozen other places they’d had the displeasure to work in. Dio led the men to Chun and Butch then stood around waiting for orders.

  “Dio, you and your team collect the bodies and drag them out of the camp. I want them torched,” Chun turned to Butch and Lupo. “You guys collect the weapons and inventory them. Hashkeh and I will inventory the rest of the supplies and check on the medical needs of the women and children.”

  He looked over his men, examining their posture and knew how they were feeling. Chun jerked his thumb over his shoulder and the men broke into their teams and got busy with their orders.

  Tina pointed out a couple of the women and directed them to help with gathering weapons and helping with the inventorying of supplies. She then directed her daughter and another woman to help with seeing to the health of the others. Tina then rolled up the sleeves of her sweater and tied her hair back. She followed Dio and the men and joined in helping to move the dead. Chun watched her for a moment and admired her spirit. This was the kind of woman he had always been attracted to. A go getter, someone who was a natural leader like himself. He finally tore his eyes off her when he caught her staring back at him. He threw her a jaunty wave and smile and got to work.

  Two hours later a roaring fire lit up the east of the camp as the scum burned. Another hour later and the women and supplies had been packed up, and were on their way back to their building. Chun took the lead of their little convoy in his SUV as Butch brought up the rear. When they arrived, Dio and Rascal busied themselves securing the grounds from the living dead and bodies. Once the area was deemed safe, Chun and Tina led the women and children back into their home and helped ferry supplies inside. Hashkeh and Butch walked around the building planning out defensive positions and fortified the entrances and exits. They would make the facility a fort so that if more men with evil in their hearts tried to invade they would be wiped out before being able to harm one woman or child.

  Hootie looked over the vehicles and consolidated their fuel and filled up their own tanks with the donated fuel from Tina and Kris. Lupo had the fun job, he kitted up and disappeared into the distance, looking for trouble and signs of dead. When he reappeared six hours later, he reported he had stumbled upon a clump of men, that had belonged to the scum they had killed the night before at the camp. He had questioned the survivors and came to the conclusion that no more of them existed. Before he ended the men’s lives, he had rounded up their dwindling supplies and booby trapped their vehicles, for anyone else foolish enough to try and pick up the torch of assholes. He had also killed ten of the walking dead creatures and concluded no more were nearby.

  The next morning, the Seals ran classes with the women and older children. Teaching them how to care for their new weapons and use them. Hashkeh took great pride teaching the young ones how to defend themselves with hand to hand combat and the use of weapons. Even the little blonde pigtailed girl had learned how to protect herself. Hashkeh had wished they could stay longer and teach these people all they could. But something was better than nothing, and he knew from doing this with numerous villages throughout the Middle East that it could and did make a difference.

  Lupo taught his valuable medical knowledge to Kris and another woman who had gone to school to become a nurse only to have her dream killed when her then husband had started to beat on her. She took notes and questioned Lupo non-stop. She was absorbing all his training and was quickly becoming a Lupo certified field medic. He gave her his own trauma kit and explained that she was to pick two children and start teaching them everything he had taught her. She promised and tried waiting on him hand and foot. She was making a point to show him that she was there for him and anything he needed. He pulled her aside and explained that she didn’t need to do that and that she was her own woman now. She needed to help others learn how to assist when someone was in need. She needed to focus on her group and helping to protect them. She at first thought he was rejecting her but he explained that he had to leave to help others and made sure she knew he found her attractive but that he was leaving with his team soon.

  The team stayed an extra day than they had originally planned, but felt that the women needed more training on their weapons and the shoring up on their defenses. Chun found Butch mid-afternoon standing in the middle of the front yard of the facility hands on his hips as he scanned the distance. Chun placed his hand on Butch’s broad shoulder and stood next to him, enjoying the silence, knowing that when Butch was ready he would talk. It was the norm for the two, Chun was used to Butch and his moodiness. He had learned to read the man over the numerous years, as they had spilled their blood in many countries and together had a near perfect record in successful missions.

  Butch swiveled his gaze off the distance and focused on Chun. “Lt, I can’t think of anything else we can do to help these women and their little charges. I feel like leaving them is a bad idea, but I know we need to keep moving and link up with our brothers. We are going to be the lynchpin in all this shit, I feel it in my bones,” Butch turned as he spoke to examine Chun’s reaction to his words.

  Chun wet his lips with his tongue, something Butch knew quite well. It meant Chun was about to make a command decision and lay down some serious words. Then he uttered words that Butch was sure he had never heard from Chun. “Master Chief, I feel like a ship with a broken rudder, surrounded by thousands of miles of open water and no port in sight. I don’t know what we should do. At first, I tried to keep us on a track that led straight to our brothers. I did not allow for obstacles, and most definitely not women or children. I feel like these people,” he spread his arms wide and turned to face the old-school house. “will be dead without us within the week. And that is unacceptable, but we are members of the U.S. Navy, and we do as we are told. But we have no orders, nothing to fall back on, to back command decisions,” Chun dropped his shoulders and looked human, compared to the cock sure man of the warriors he lead.

  Butch took in Chun’s words and considered them for a moment. “Lt,” Butch started, then stopped and put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Tony, my job has always been to support your decisions and see to it that your orders are followed to the T. But I find myself in a position that is uncharted. I have turned down the chances to lead my own team a dozen times. I refuse to be promoted and that is because out of all the men I have worked for, you are the one true leader. I, and the rest of these men, would follow y
ou through the gates of Hell and kick Satan in the balls if you ordered it.”

  Chun raised his shoulders a little higher and thought over the words Butch had spoken. “Master Chief, alert the men we leave at first light tomorrow. Make sure everything here is squared away tonight and inform Tina of our intentions. Let her know if we run across honest soldiers we will send them her way. The phrase they will deliver is ‘Fuck It’.” Chun stood even straighter and squared his shoulders as he laid out his orders. “I want all weapons cleaned and maintained, Hootie needs to see to the maintenance of the transports and check all supply levels. I want Lupo and Hashkeh to range out and recon the area for danger and issues. Get Rascal and Dio working on our route and any foreseeable obstacles,” Butch snapped to attention and saluted Chun. “You have your orders, Master Chief,” He threw a half salute back and turned, dismissing the big seal. As Butch walked away, Chun spoke up loud enough to stop him in his tracks. “Master Chief, thank you for your help getting my shit back together.”

  “Fuck you, Lt. It was a selfish move on my behalf. I don’t want to be the grown up, these assholes would piss me off if I had to lead them,” Chun broke out laughing as Butch continued walking away. Chun jumped back into the day and made a mental checklist of things to be done for the facility. He checked them off as reports came in.

  It was two hours later when Tina finally found Chun. He was leaning against a tree, observing the small rifle range that had been erected to instruct the women and children. A class was in session under Butch’s careful eye and tutelage. He had seen that man run these same classes a million times around the world, but he had never seen him so tender with the people before. Tina strode up and tried to stand tall in front of Chun to force him to look at her. But being barely five feet, she barely came up to the bottom of his chest. But she was a storm that was not going to be denied. She grabbed onto the webbing of his tactical vest and tried to pull him down. Chun flicked an eye down at her and gave her a bemused look.