“Okay I know what we are going to do now.” Doucette broke the silence. “Once the bikers leave we are going to head down into town and get those people out.”
“What about picking off those bikers.” Byrne was surprised that the sergeant was willing to abandon the plan.
“I think that the swarm of hungry dead freaks will take care of them. If any of the guards stay behind we will deal with them then. So lets get this shit packed up and get into position.” Doucette sat up and grabbed the radio from his backpack.
Byrne grabbed the case for the sniper rifle and started to disassemble the parts so he could pack it away. The sniper rifle weighed nearly fifty pounds and was a burden to carry. He stripped scope and tripod off the rifle first, followed by the grip and gun stock. Once everything was back in the case he locked it up. “When we get to town we should probably bury it away. It will be useless in close quarters.”
“There’s no fucking way we are risking loosing the fifty cal. Suck it up, buttercup,” Doucette said in a stern voice. “Now shut up, I’m going to let Wade know what’s going on.” Doucette walked around until he found a strong signal, turning his back to Byrne to make the call.
Byrne slung his service rifle over his shoulder and pulled the strap tight against his chest, pinning the rifle in place. He pulled his backpack on and adjusted his weight strap to carry more of the load on his waist. He was dreading the trek down the hill but he could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins. The excitement of rescuing all of those people was making him high. “What did Wade say?” He asked as Doucette turned around.
“He said for one of us to stay here.” Doucette didn’t like the idea of splitting up but he wasn’t going to disobey his orders. “I’ll stay here and keep watch over you.”
“Roger that sergeant.” Byrne knew there wasn’t any point in arguing.
“Just make sure that you don’t make a move until after you see that flare.” Doucette reminded him. “You move in too early and those bikers will kill you on the spot. They won’t hesitate to kill you or any of those people down there.”
“I know, I’m going to head towards the old gas station.” Byrne was a little nervous heading into the city by himself, but at least he would have some support. Without another word the two men nodded and Byrne turned to walk down the hill. The snow wasn’t as deep on the slope of the hill, but the ground underneath was treacherous. Every slippery rock and patch of ice threatened to send him tumbling down the hill. It was going to take Byrne an hour to get down the slope, but at least the tree’s would offer him protection from view of anyone down below. He used the trees to his advantage, clinging to the overhanging branches for support as he eased his way down the hill. The snow had built up on the branches and fell down the neck of his shirt, sending a deep chill through his body. Byrne cursed the whole way down the mountainside.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE:
GOODBYE
“Hey, it’s time to get up.”
Eric opened his eyes to see Wade standing at the top of the trench looking down at him. He looked over at Dana who was still fast asleep, snoring loudly bundled up in her sleeping bag. Eric sat up and reached out to shake Dana but decided to let her sleep until he knew what was going on. Wade sipped on a coffee, the steam rising from his white mug. “You got one of those for me?”
“We can get you one.” Wade held out his hand. “Come on. I only need to talk to you.”
Eric grabbed his hand and was surprised by his strength, Wade nearly lifted Eric out of the fox hole without much effort. Eric landed on his feet and nearly fell face-first into the snow. “How long have we been asleep?”
“Not long enough but it will have to do.” Wade took another mouthful of coffee. “You need to get some food in you before you leave. We have a bag packed for you and your horse has been fed.”
“That’s great, thanks.” Eric stumbled through the snow. The sun was still low in the sky. Eric wasn’t sure if it was morning or night. “What time is it?”
“It’s sunrise.”
“Where’s Smith?” Eric tried to shake the grogginess from his eyes.
“He’s not back yet.” Wade answered quickly.
“This plan is already falling to shit.” Eric felt a sudden sense of dread wash over him.
“You don’t need to worry about anything other than luring that herd into Grand Falls. We will take care of the rest.” Wade spoke swiftly. His tone of voice remained calm, but Eric could see the worry in his eyes. “No matter what, we proceed with the plan. It’s our best chance of survival.”
“Are you so sure about that?” Doubt was filling Eric’s mind. “I mean I could just avoid Grand Falls and those bikers. I don’t need to be in Grand Falls.”
“You could avoid Grand Falls but there must be over ten thousand people living in that town. Eventually they are going to need supplies and they will go out and you won’t want to cross their path alone.” Wade was confident in his plan, or at least in its importance.
Eric was afraid that if the plan failed they would have no chance of survival. “Maybe we can find a place far away that we can stay hidden.”
“I know how things are going to play out. It’s human nature. You can find something that will keep you safe and help you survive. Someone else will want it and they will try to take it from you. Trust me. You don’t want to do this alone.” Wade didn’t mince his words. He spoke with a purpose. “Stand tall with the Republic and we can protect you.”
The smell of burnt meat lingered in the air and it made Eric nauseous. “I don’t know. What if more of those bikers show up?” Two soldiers sat in front of an old Coleman’s stove, one of them stirring a giant pot.
The sound of crunching snow caught the attention of the soldiers. Corporal Ross turned to see who was coming. “Soup?” She held out a bowl.
“It’s the only thing we got.” Wade motioned for the corporal to pour up a serving. Ross ladled a light soup into the bowl. It was mostly broth with sparse meat and noodles. “Eat up.”
Eric reached out and took the soup, steam billowing up from the piping hot liquid. He tried to cool it down by blowing on it, drops of the broth spilling over the side of his bowl. He took a small sip and instantly regretted it. The scalding hot soup burned his lip and it left a salty, bitter taste in his mouth “Thanks.” Eric sighed.
“The cook didn’t make it.” Corporal Ross cracked a smile. She must have known how bad the soup tasted.
Eric didn’t want to complain about the food. He had eaten much worse since the outbreak and at times had nothing to eat. “Don’t worry about it.” Eric looked around at all of the soldiers as they drank their morning coffee. Everyone seemed to be a little more relaxed today and in high spirits. “You think I could get a cup of joe?”
“I think I should set up a stand outside of town and sell it. It will be the first franchise in the apocalypse.” The male soldier quipped as he poured coffee from a large metal keg, the golden brown liquid spewing from the spout. “I don’t have a name for it yet, but I have my slogan.”
“It’s not as funny as you think.” Ross punched his arm playfully.
“Now you can rise from the dead, too, with apocalypse coffee.” The soldier certainly found it hilarious, letting out a hearty chuckle. He handed a mug to Eric. The burnt aroma of coffee filled the cold air.
A smile drew out the lines at the corner of Eric’s eyes. Maybe it wouldn’t have been that funny under any other circumstances, but he couldn’t help but laugh. “So what currency do you accept?”
“We don’t have time for this.” Wade cut Eric off. “I need to make sure you know the plan exactly. We can’t afford to mess this up.” He finished his coffee and held out his mug for a refill.
Eric took a mouthful of his coffee and nearly spit it out. It was strong and thick like tar. No wonder everyone seemed to be in a better mood. The soldier certainly wasn’t lying; this brew could bring the dead back to the living. “Well, let’s get on with it then.�
�
Wade held out an orange pistol. “Take this flare gun. It only has three rounds so make sure you don’t use them until your close enough to Grand Falls. Shot the flares over the town and then get the hell out of there. You don’t want to get caught in the crossfire.”
Eric reached out and took the flare gun, tucking it into his belt. The cold plastic sent a shiver up his backside. “So if I can’t lure them there with the flares, how am I going to get them to follow me?”
“I packed handheld flares in your backpack.” Wade sat down in a mound of snow. “There is also enough food to last you the day. If you don’t make it to the town by tonight the plan won’t work. Our scouts put the herd about fifteen kilometres outside of Grand Falls.”
“If you have scouts out there, why don’t they just lure the herd back to town?” Eric wasn’t impressed by the information.
“They have other orders,” Wade responded abruptly.
“Hey if I’m going to be part of this plan I think I deserve to know a little more about this fucking wild plan.” Eric barked.
“They are the only trained snipers we have and they are going to be waiting for the bikers just outside of town.” Wade frowned. “What else do you need to know?”
“What else do the scouts know? Any movements in town or anything like that?” Eric felt embarrassed by his outburst. Wade had given him no reason to distrust him, but Eric was growing agitated by the dangerous plan.
“Well, those vikings that came with you.” Wade shot Eric a sly glance. “They have been briefed on what they are doing.”
“They will be going with me.” Eric hadn’t planned to do this alone.
Wade looked at Eric. “They will be occupied with something else, but you won’t need them. You’ll only be around that herd for a few hours and they will meet you just outside the town.”
Eric felt sick to his stomach. If anything went wrong he wouldn’t stand a chance. He would be surrounded by danger all around with the herd on one side and a raging war on the other. “I don’t feel right about this. I thought I would have backup.”
“You don’t need backup. Light the fucking flare and keep moving towards town. It isn’t complicated.” Wade wasn’t sympathetic to Eric’s troubles. “You have it easy and you don’t need to be part of the gunfight.”
Eric wasn’t telling anyone his plan. He had to get into the town and get his mother out quickly. He didn’t know how he was going to do it, but he was sure the military wasn’t going to wait for him to get her. “If I fail, this plan isn’t going to work.”
“I have been told you are perfectly capable of handling yourself,” Wade said. “Smith said you should be leading the one leading the vikings in the assault, but I will do that myself.”
“Lead the vikings in an assault?” Eric didn’t know what good men wielding axes and swords would be against men with automatic rifles.
“An ambush. Catch the bikers off guard. The noise from the gun fight should allow us to pick off some of the bikers before they realize what hit them.” Wade smiled an evil grin and placed a cigarette in his mouth. “Our plan is to slowly dwindle their numbers until the numbers are in our favour.”
“What if Warrant Smith doesn’t make it back with the ammo?” Eric took another mouthful of the strong coffee. He felt a rush of caffeine course throughout his body.
“We barely have any ammo left so we need to make every shot count. That’s why I need the vikings to wait with me. The more people we can kill without using up our bullets the better. I have no idea if he’s going to make it back in time, but we have to carry on.” Wade stood up and offered his cancer stick to Eric.
Eric shook his head. “No thanks. There are enough things trying to kill me already.” Eric felt his head tingling from the coffee. Tiny bright spots danced in his vision. He needed to get some food in his belly.
Wade took a long drag. “Suit yourself.” He formed his mouth into a circle and let rings of smoke float out and raise into the air. The rings got wider the higher they went until they expanded too far and disappeared into the small breeze.
Eric tried the soup again. The cold air had cooled it considerably since his last mouthful. It didn’t’ taste very good but it was better than nothing. “What kind of meat is this?” Eric thought it looked like rabbit. All he could taste was salt, too much pepper, and burnt meat.
“I don’t think you want to know.” Wade let out a long sigh. “There is a reason that it’s burnt so badly.”
Eric looked down in the bowl and tried his best not to think about it and continued to eat the mystery animal. It could have been crow or squirrel, it didn’t matter anymore. He needed something to push away the hunger pains. “So what did you do in the army?” Eric needed something to keep him distracted while he ate.
“I worked in the infantry my whole life. I got a lot of combat experience and it’s probably why they came and got me. There hasn’t been any real conflict for years. It made the soldiers soft.” Wade sounded disappointed.
“What do you mean by that?” Eric didn’t think any of the soldiers would appreciate being called soft.
“You have a generation being taught by a generation that never experienced real war. It’s not their fault, it would be like a baseball player who only practiced and never played a real game teaching a minor league team to play in game seven of the World Series. They just don’t have the same instincts.” Wade flicked his cigarette butt over his shoulder. “They just don’t have the skills needed. They wouldn’t understand the pressure.”
“What about those bikers? How much experience do they have fighting a war?” Eric questioned.
“They fight in the streets against rival gangs and amongst each other. They know what it’s like to face a bullet or fight for their lives.” Wade stood up. “Once the bullets start to fly we will see if their training paid off. We have to hope they don’t crumble under the pressure.”
“Well, they faced those creatures out there and are still alive.” Eric picked up for the younger members of the regiment.
“That’s true, but nothing can simulate the feel of a live bullet being fired in your direction. I still remember the first time a piece of the earth exploded in front of me, I can still remember the taste of dirt in my mouth, how my heart stopped and I had to fight against every instinct in my body to turn and run.…” Wade looked up and closed his eyes. “I remember how I lost my breath and forced myself to follow my orders even though my whole body trembled with fear.”
“So you were afraid, but you still found a way to keep pushing forward.” Eric couldn’t imagine the things Wade had seen in his career. He’d read history books about the horrors of war.
“Not everyone can push through it. I had a buddy who couldn’t remember to get down low to the ground. He stood up and started to run back, caught a hail of bullets. I also watched a friend get shot in the back of the head.” Wade took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “We were sitting down eating lunch with the rest of our group. Never saw the sniper but we found out later the shot came from nearly a kilometre away. The fucking papers called the bastard a great shot and bragged about the kill. Made me sick to my stomach to read about it. I’ll never forget the look on his face right before the bullet tore apart the back of his skull.”
“He must have been terrified.” Eric still remembered the first zombie he saw in the back of that ambulance. He had never been so afraid in his whole life and he would never forget that mans snapping jaws and crazy eyes.
“That’s the thing. He wasn’t afraid or mad. He never even heard the gunshot. He was reading the mail his wife had sent to him. She had given birth while he was deployed and it was the first time he had ever seen his baby boy. He was filled with pride and joy.” Wade reached into his pocket and took out his wallet. He pulled out a picture and handed it to Eric. “I had to lie to his wife about how it happened. I told her we didn’t know where he had put the photo.” Eric looked down at the blood-stained photograph of the man’s
son. He was on the weight scale. Seven pound and seven ounces displayed on the digital screen. The baby was lying down on a blue blanket in his plastic crib. The baby looked like he was crying to break his heart. Eric had to fight back the tear forming in the corner of his eye. “You have kids?”
“I have one on the way actually.” Eric handed back the picture.
Wade carefully placed it back in the sleeve where it belonged. “Let’s just hope this plan of ours works.”
“Did you know what they named the child?” Eric hadn’t talked to Dana about names.
“His name was Rick. I was his godfather and I made damn sure he never got caught up in this shit.” Wade pulled at his jacket. “He was the closest thing I ever had to a kid and I couldn’t bear to lose him.”
“Where is he now?” Eric wasn’t sure he wanted to know, his heart had already taken its share of sadness today.
“He worked for Pharmakon. From what I can tell, he’s in one of their underground bunkers somewhere on the island.” Wade stood up and patted the snow off his pants.
“I know where it is.” Eric blurted out. “He’s in Buchan’s.”
“Buchan’s? I think I’ll pay them a visit when this is all over.” Wade smirked.
“I’ll go with you. I have to find a friend who went there.” Eric extended his arm and held out his hand. They shook on it. “I think I need to go wake up my wife.”
“Yeah, you probably should. You will have to say good bye soon.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:
HERD
The tarmac was littered with the dead corpses. Jason looked out the back of the cargo truck as the vehicle came to a stop just outside of the command tower of Deer Lake Regional Airport. “We got about a dozen operators up in that tower. They need us clear the runways of those dead freaks.” David started to brief them on the situation the moment he had opened the hatch.
Zombies On The Rock (Book 3): The Republic of Newfoundland Page 17
