World of Corpses (Book 1): World of Corpses

by Cook, Scott W.

  “That’s okay, Vicky,” He said reassuringly, “In one sense, our primary enemy is easy to fight. They simply come at you with no regard for their safety. Just sight in on their noggins and pull the trigger. You stick with me and I’ll keep you safe and in no time you’ll be as deadly as Andy here.”

  That got a little chuckle and I saw Andy blush. He looked so cute when he blushed.

  “Now then,” Sam said, pacing back and forth in front of a small pile of backpacks and weapons, “We’re all getting the same load out. Your gear consists of the following. An M4 with night scope. A Beretta nine millimeter. A chest rig that holds extra magazines for both weapons. Your packs contain gorilla tape, fifty feet of three-eighths braded nylon rope, twist ties and assorted tools. A Maglite with extra batteries and a walkie-talkie that’s water resistant but not water proof. Keep that in mind. However, there are a couple of large zip lock bags in there that you can use to seal up the delicates in case of immersion. Your packs also contain four MRE’s, six bottles of water, purification tabs, a reverse osmosis water filter and a few specific goodies. I’ll go over those in a minute. The packs may seem a bit heavy, especially to the ladies, but once they’re on your backs it won’t be so bad.”

  I heard Andrea scoff at the ladies comment. Sam grinned.

  “What are the specifics?” I asked.

  “We’ll be broken into two teams,” Sam said, “led by Tony and myself. Julie, Tara and Vicky with me, Andrea and Andy with Tony. Each team will have some special gear in their packs. My team carries the medical gear. Between the four of us we’ve got IV bags, field surgical gear, bandages, tourniquets and assorted drugs from anti-biotics to pain killers to anesthetics. There’s rubbing alcohol and a few other things, too. It’s a lot, so I’ve split it up into the four packs. Tony’s team is carrying extra ordinance. C4, det cord, fuses, remote detonators and the like. Everybody also has four grenades. Two in the pack and two on your chest rig. Everybody got that?”

  A series of “yes sirs” ran down the small line.

  “Okay, good,” Sam went on, “Each chest rig is packed with six thirty round mags for the M4’s and four mags for your pistols. The weapons are currently loaded with a full mag. So that’s two hundred and ten rounds for the assault rifles and seventy-five for your hand weapon. That’s it, kids. So remember to count your rounds and when possible, save your mags. I hope to find additional ammo in the field, one way or another, and if we do, then we can reload. As I say, there are two grenades in the rig now as well as a few maps of where we’re going. Additionally, everybody is getting a brand new KA-bar with sheath and leg straps.”

  “Aye-aye,” we all chimed.

  “Any questions?” Sam asked.

  “Why no heavier weapons?” Vicky asked, “Like a grenade launcher or shotguns or something?”

  “Good question,” Sam said, “Because we’re primarily going up against zombies, high explosives aren’t that useful. Most hand-held and hand-launched ordinance is designed to shred human bodies. Unfortunately, our enemy requires the destruction of the brain and sadly, most of the energy of grenades, mines and even something like an M79 or an RPG is wasted. You get like a thirty percent kill ratio, and sometimes even less. Ironically, this ratio goes way down in a horde because the density of the bodies protects the group who can take a tremendous amount of body damage and still remain a threat. I’d rather travel lighter and be more effective. This isn’t a brawl. We simply don’t have the numbers to sustain a large combat scenario. Our job is to infiltrate quietly and efficiently. I hope we don’t need a tenth of our current armament. A bigger concern is the human element. In any case, the extra ordinance allows us to do some demolition work if necessary.”

  There were no more questions and so Sam began handing out gear. He had us gear up completely, including the pack, chest rig and rifles hanging in their tactical slings. The gear was a bit heavy, but not too bad.

  “All right,” he said, “here’s the brief plan. We’ll go over each stage as we come to it. As all of the officers here will attest, most plans never go off as planned. Tony and I can attest to that especially. The very nature of SEAL operations means that the old adage of improvise, adapt and overcome is actually SOP. However, here are the bare essentials. We’re going to helo in to an area outside of Palm Beach County. Out there, sitting on a spur line, is an abandoned train. Our job is to fire up the locomotive, unhitch the rest of the cars and drive this engine to Jacksonville. We get off the train, make our way to NAS Jacksonville and grab the boat. We’re actually lucky in two respects. First, there’s an attack boat here and we don’t have to go further north to King’s Bay. Second, the reactor is in standby and not completely shut down, making our job that much easier.”

  After a moment of silence, Tony spoke up, “in what way are we unlucky, Skip?”

  Sam chuckled, “The base is literally crawling with G’s. Thousands of them. Like ants on a pile of sugar. I can’t say why, but they’re everywhere. Which is going to make our job that much harder as we get close.”

  “How do we get past them?” I asked.

  “We tackle that obstacle when we come to it,” Sam said, “There are five parts to this mission. Get to the train, figure out the train, drive the train, get to the base and then get the sub back here. I hope that last part is the easiest. But…”

  A chuckle went up from the military people and even Andy, the newest military person.

  “It’s sixteen hundred now,” Sam said, “We’ve got something like a two hour flight ahead of us, which puts us near Delray about sundown. Just enough light to find a good LZ and see what’s what. And then good darkness cover to deal with it. The galley is prepping our dinner now and we’ll eat on the flight. Everybody good? Any last minute needs or wants?”

  “Anybody have to go potty?” Andrea quipped.

  That got a laugh. Sam smiled, “Good idea. Let’s all hit the head and mount up.”

  Jesus, this was really happening.

  A few minutes later, we were all buckled in and the big helicopter was lifting off the deck and swooping out over the water. Low over the water. It felt like we were almost getting our feet wet, but Sam said we were a hundred feet up. He said that was to limit our radar signature, although who would be using radar anymore I didn’t know.

  After a while, we flew over land. It was mostly flat and grassy with occasional stands of scrub pines, cypress hammocks and open waterways. It was the Everglades. Kind of funny, because I’d never actually been to the Everglades and only now was seeing it for the first time.

  Around five-thirty or so, we ate our dinner, which was meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, a bottle of water and a hunk of carrot cake for dessert. It was pretty good, actually and quite filling.

  “Hope you’re all full,” Sam said as he helped to pack the trash back into the leather hot bag our dinner had come in, “Because we might not get another chance to eat for a while. I don’t’ know what we’re going to face once we arrive… but let’s hope for the best and plan for the worst.”

  “Sir,” Called the pilot over the headsets, “We’re coming up on the coordinates. I think I’ve got a visual on the train.”

  Sam leaned into the flight compartment and peered between the man at the controls and his co-pilot. The grasslands had given way to farms and some patches of woodlands. A gash ran through the middle of everything headed more or less east. Far ahead was a long train sitting on the tracks.

  “No sign of G’s or people,” The co-pilot said in her husky voice, “Should we set you down near the train, Captain?”

  “We’re about three miles off,” Sam said thoughtfully, “Hold position here at this altitude for a minute. Let’s see what happens.”

  Nothing did. No sign of life… or death.

  “Okay,” Sam said, “Plan still holds. Set us down here, somewhere. We’ll hoof it the rest of the way. Rather have any attention drawn here than to our destination.”

  “Aye-aye, sir,” The pilot said
.

  There were plenty of trees around but where we were they weren’t very dense. There was a big clearing right next to the tracks and the pilot landed us there.

  “Geared up?” Sam asked us all.

  A round of yesses and he slid the cargo door open.

  “Let’s move!” He barked, “Lieutenant, lift off and bug out fast once we’re clear.”

  “Yes sir!” The pilot replied, “And good luck.”

  Sam gave him a thumbs up, helped everyone out of the chopper and slid the door closed. He waved at the pilot once we’d stepped clear and the Sea Hawk seemed to shoot up into the sky, twist and zoom off the way we’d come. Within minutes, the sound of the blades died away and was replaced by quiet twilight. Crickets were starting to chirp and after a minute or so, we heard the sound of a great horned owl hooting somewhere deeper in the woods.

  “Huddle up,” Sam said quietly, as if he didn’t want to disturb the tranquility of the south Florida evening, “It’d be easiest to follow the tracks… but we’ve still got a half hours’ worth of light left. We’re going to parallel them through the woods, just in case. Tony, you take the north side and I’ll take the south. Everybody got their code names? Sound off.”

  Sam’s team was red team and Tony’s was blue. Sam and Tony were one, Andrea and Vicky were two and Andy and I were three. The Gunny was red four. We all announced this in a low voice and then split up.

  Although the sun had set five minutes before we landed and there was plenty of light in the open, the woods was a different story. As we moved east, things got denser and darker, so that it seemed full dark unless you looked up in the sky where a little navy blue could be seen above the trees. I don’t mind saying that it was creepy.

  Thankfully, like a lot of Florida pine woods, there was plenty of room to move, although in single file. Sam kept us within more or less visual range of the train tracks. It was amazing, he walked very carefully, seeming to place each foot consciously before taking another step. It was slow compared to walking in the open, but because we followed him exactly, it was very quiet. Occasionally, one of us would snap a twig but otherwise, not bad.

  After about fifteen minutes of this, or maybe half a mile, Sam stopped and lifted his radio to his lips, “Blue one, Red one. Sitrep?”

  A small crackle, “Red one, blue one. Nominal. Negative Charlie, negative Zulu. Over.”

  “Roger,” Sam said, “Same here. Out.”

  He adjusted the frequency on the radio, and Vicky, Julie and I did the same before he put it back in his chest rig and started moving again. We had a pre-arranged radio procedure to hopefully prevent or limit anyone undesirable overhearing us. When I asked Sam about it and who would be listening anymore, he smiled and said that the odds were low, but not zero. In fact, he’d said that it could be much higher now, with people struggling to survive. If they were smart, they’d have scanners and radios and would listen in to see what was happening near and far. Better to be cautious and follow the book, Sam said.

  Another hour went by with several more radio checks. By now it really was dark. Sam led us out of the woods and to the tracks where we met Tony and his group. It was a clear night and the moon was just rising in the east, so we could see okay out in the open.

  “We should be okay out here now,” Sam said, “And there’s the train anyway.”

  Maybe a quarter of a mile ahead on the tracks was a large bulky bit of darkness. Sam and Tony raised their rifles and used the scopes to check it out. Andy came over and gave my ass a little squeeze and gave me a kiss.

  “How you doing?” he whispered.

  I smiled, “Nominal, L T.”

  He smiled back, “Awesome. So far, so good. Let’s hope our luck holds.”

  Man… I guess you should never call the fates out in this fucked up new world we live in… because our luck didn’t hold.

  Or maybe it did, just stayed bad…

  Okay, so we made it to the train and began walking up the line of cars. There were about forty of them, which doesn’t seem like a lot until you realize, as I did when Sam told us, that each car was like seventy-five feet long. When you added in the couplers, the train was like two-thirds of a mile and wasn’t even a big one.

  “Christ, Sharky,” Andrea said as we strolled past the different cars, “There are tankers with who knows what, freight cars… some flatbeds with trailers… even some car haulers here… I wonder what’s in all these. Should we start checking inside?”

  Sam shook his head, “I’d love to. But its dark, we don’t’ know what’s out there and we’ve got a mission to accomplish. Although maybe once we secure the engine, we can set up a recon party to poke around a smidge.”

  “Exactly how much is a smidge?” Vicky asked with a giggle, “Is that like your munch or gobble of zombies?”

  Sam chuckled, “Barely a couple of hours in and you’re already bucking for insubordination, eh, Sanchez?”

  “Just respectfully asking, Captain,” Sanchez said with a grin, “Want to make sure we’re all on the same page. You know… how many tidbits in a smidge, how many smidges in a smattering and so on.”

  “Everybody’s a wise ass…” Sam pretend grumbled as we came up to the locomotive.

  The thing was massive. I mean… you see a train go by or from a distance but you really don’t realize how huge these machines are. Granted, it was on the tracks on top of the gravel bed which was three feet high… but the locomotive, made almost black by night with the exception of the yellow stripe around the base, looked like it was two stories tall.

  “Fuckin’ cock…” Andrea breathed, “How the hell are we supposed to drive this monster?”

  “What’s so hard?” Andy quipped, gazing up from beside me, “It goes two directions. I bet even Tony could figure it out.”

  “Oh, what I’m incapable because I’ve got a boo-boo in my chest?” Tony asked with a grin that showed off brightly in the moonlight.

  “Nah, man” Andy said, patting Tony on the shoulder, “It’s cuz your sooo old. Geez.”

  Tony frogged him and Andy chuckled.

  “Come children,” Sam said in a fatherly tone, “Let us focus on our jobs. Everybody into the choo-choo.”

  We climbed the ladder and followed in a line to the portside door that led into the control cab. It was unlocked, and Sam slid it aside. The interior was dark and smelled a bit like a computer room. Kind of surprising. I guess I was imagining sooty coal or diesel fumes or something.

  “Okay, now what?” Andrea asked.

  Sam flicked on his flashlight and scanned the compartment. It was maybe fifteen by fifteen. There was a control console in front of the windows with two big comfy looking leather chairs. A couple of other chairs were situated near either side in front of the port and starboard doors. Along the back wall was a set of gauges and monitors.

  “Jesus,” Julie said, looking around, “I feel like we just walked onto the bridge of the Enterprise.”

  “Been hanging out on a carrier too long,” Tony said with a grin.

  “I meant the Starship Enterprise,” Julie said with a chuckle, “Where’s Scotty when you need him?”

  Sam snorted and looked around, “Yeah, no shit… Okay, I’m sure there’s a manual or something around here. Also the batteries are probably switched off and that’s our first priority. It’s hard with so many of us crammed in here. So here’s what I want. Me, Tara and Tony will figure out how to get this sleeping giant online. You other four go scout the area. Radio checks every twenty minutes, same procedure.”

  “Why Tony and Tara?” Andy asked.

  “Well,” Sam said, “Tara cuz she’s cute and Tony because, despite him being relatively ignorant and all—“

  “Fuck you, Sammy!” Tony said with a laugh.

  “See what I mean?” Sam said, ribbing his friend, “he and I probably have the highest level of technical skill.”

  “And the most experience in combat,” Andy pointed out.

  Sam shrugged, “You punk
s gotta learn sometime. Now enough jaw-jackin’. Drop your cocks and grab your socks… cept Andrea… and Vicky… and Julie… cuz… y’know… they don’t have cocks.”

  “For which we’re grateful<” Vicky said with a smirk.

  “Speak for yourself,” Andrea said with a smile, “I happen to like cocks.”

  “Me too,” Vicky admitted.

  “Chocolate ones?” Tony asked with an innocent face and a hopeful tone.

  “You wish,” Vicky teased but with a big smile, “I like em’… just don’t want to cart them around all the time.”

  “Yeah,” Tony said, hitching his belt up, “Dam thing’s a menace to pedestrian traffic…”

  Tara scoffed, “Yeah, somebody might see it and die laughing.”

  Tony flipped her off.

  “What a bunch of sickos,” Julie said with a laugh.

  “Okay,” Andrea said, “Vicky, you’re with me on the right side of the train. Andy you go with the Gunny on the left. Let’s move out, quietly.”

  My job, which was fine with me, was to sort of babysit Tony and Sam. I’d go from door to door, looking through the small window and out into the night. It was also my job to maintain radio contact with the two teams. It was pretty dull, which just at the moment was something I was glad of.

  “Okay, so what do we do, Sammy?” Tony asked shortly after the scouting teams left.

  “You tell me,” Sam said.

  “But I’s just a ignant darky, suh,” Tony drawled.

  “Yeah, you’re ignorant all right,” Sam said as Tony chuckled.

  “This thing is basically a giant engine,” Tony said. He began opening cabinets and sliding doors located near the front of the engine, “And like all diesels, I imagine it’s got a set of glow plugs that have to be warmed up in order to fire up the engine. So that means we need battery power.”

  Sam was flicking switches here and there, “Agreed… but we don’t seem to have any. Shit… what if the batteries are dead? It’s not like we can call Triple-A or some shit.”