Hell happened (Book 2): Hell Revisited

by Terry Stenzelbarton

  Ever since that woman had arrived on post, the colonel had become even less genial toward Keith.

  * * *

  Keith had survived the “great death” as it had been called where he lived. He was the only one he knew of to still be alive from the town of Dry Ridge, KY. He left the empty town on a bicycle because he didn’t know how to drive. He was intercepted on I-65 by one of the major’s scouting parties and taken to the post.

  After interrogation, he was offered protection and food by the camp commander, Lt. Col. Smith. He was given the responsibility of getting the communications gear working when he wasn’t on guard duty or working in the kitchen. Keith was envious of Tony and their fresh food, fresh meat and better weather. The two had become friends over the radio and Keith hoped one day he could escape this camp and work his way down to where Tony lived.

  The woman arrived a few weeks after the storms that destroyed so many towns near the base. The storms had been part of the hurricane that ravaged the south and his friend Tony’s area.

  Capt. Cheryl Paxton had pushed the base commander into a more militaristic bent. Keith, having never served in the military began being left out of the colonel’s plans.

  As Cheryl and her platoon pulled out, Keith again told the colonel of his misgivings about the stories told by the men they’d captured and just sent off on a mission to “rescue” women.

  The colonel looked at the young man with derision. “Why don’t you shut the hell up and do your job. This is a military operation and you’re just a geek with a radio. And just to keep you from warning the farm, you’re restricted to quarters until the captain returns.”

  Keith hung his head and turned away from the colonel. Tony was his friend and he trusted him. With the weapons and vehicles that Cheryl had taken with her, he was sure the farm wouldn’t be able to defend itself. He started walking toward his quarters, not seeing the colonel watching him.

  The radio shack with the equipment he used to contact Tony was not far from his quarters. If he’d looked back, he’d have seen the colonel talking with one of his lieutenants.

  Halfway back to the radio room, he took off at a run to the shack. He’d try to get a message to Tony before the colonel stopped him.

  As the only radio man he figured the colonel might stop him, break his radios, maybe imprison him or even expel him from the base. But at least Tony would know the woman was coming for them.

  * * *

  Morning was a rush to the little bathroom in Amanda’s RV, for everyone including Chopper. The sound of kids talking woke Amanda and she felt surprisingly refreshed. Audrey apologized, but Amanda said it was fine. Dan was exiting the bathroom, looking sweaty and drained. He put on a brave face, but Amanda could tell there was something wrong.

  There was nothing she could do, so as soon as she and Chopper were finished with their personal needs, she put Fort Carson into the GPS. The numbers came up for a nine and a half hour drive. Amanda knew she could do it with just one stop, but the kids wouldn’t be comfortable with it. She handed some CDs to Audrey when the children had been fed and cleaned up so they could listen to some music.

  Andy came forward after a while and asked if he could play with her laptop. Amanda knew her journal was still open and she didn’t want him reading it, so she said they could after the first rest stop. She heard Audrey sing to some of the Taylor Swift songs and she had a beautiful voice. The kids clapped for her.

  Every once in a while she’d look back at Dan and he was looking worse. The towels wrapped around his foot were soaked in blood and had to be changed regularly. His pallor had turned pasty and his breathing more shallow.

  Audrey gave him lots of water and his daughter, who had found a note pad, was playing a picture game, where she would draw something and her dad would guess what the picture was.

  The activity in back made the miles go by quickly. At the first rest break, Chopper went outside and the kids did too. Amanda checked on Dan and he had a fever coming on. He said his stomach hurt and he had a headache, but he would be fine once he got some more rest. Amanda knew he wasn’t going to get better with rest. Blood was soaking through the bandages on his foot too often, so Amanda and Audrey wrapped more towels around it.

  She closed and secured her journal and gave it to Audrey for the kids to play games on during the next drive time.

  Another three and a half hours on the road and Amanda pulled over so everyone could eat and she could re-fuel the truck from a semi that was parked along side the road.

  The kids played outside, throwing a pair of knotted up socks for Chopper while Audrey fixed lunch. It became quite a game for them and allowed them to release some of their pent up energy from hiding in the basement for five days, then another day inside the little RV.

  They had tomato soup for lunch with the crackers. Audrey found some fruit cocktail to finish off the meal. Dan was able to keep the soup down, but she could tell it was getting harder for him. His fever was getting worse.

  It was about three more hours to Fort Carson and Amanda decided to drive straight through. If there was a doctor there, Dan needed antibiotics and more care than Amanda or Audrey could provide.

  Audrey suggested a quick stop for clean clothes for everyone, and Amanda agreed, hoping to find some better first aid equipment. They pulled off the highway an hour north of Cheyanne, but Chopper was displeased so Amanda didn’t stop and got back onto the highway. She waited six more exits before trying again. While Amanda fueled the truck and tended Dan, Audrey and the kids found clothes, then it was back on the road.

  As they were passing through Cheyenne Wyoming, Audrey put all the kids down for a nap after showers and a change of clothes. She’d been keeping them busy with games on the laptop and cleaning, keeping them from being bored. Now they were all tired out and in the bed. Chopper had gotten tired of hanging his head out the window and went back for a nap beside where Dan slept fitfully.

  Audrey came up to sit in the passenger seat. Amanda could tell the woman was being taxed with keeping the kids busy. Amanda looked behind her and saw all the kids were sleeping. “If you want to roll the window down, feel free to light up,” Amanda told her. “You look like you need it.”

  “You sure you don’t mind?” she asked, pulling a hard-pack from her denim vest pocket. “I never knew how much work being a mom could be.”

  “No, go ahead. The kids are asleep and the smoke will be drawn out the window. You’re good,” Amanda told her. “To be honest, I’m glad you came up front. I can use the company.”

  Audrey lit up the cigarette with great relish and blew the smoke out the window. She held the cigarette in her right hand so the smoke was drawn outside and she could flick the ashes out. “What up, buttercup?” She finally asked.

  Amanda really liked this woman’s attitude. “You can start calling on the CB to see if there is anyone around. We’re about 45 minutes from Fort Carson, but we don’t know if what the truckers told Dan was true or just a rumor.

  “Hopefully, we can reach someone on the radio.”

  Two cigarettes later, Audrey heard a faint reply to her call on the radio. She handed the microphone to Amanda.

  “This is Sgt. Amanda Saunders,” she said into the microphone, using her military rank, hoping it still had some weight, “of the 52nd Aviation Regiment. Can anyone copy, over?” she released the microphone.

  “Sergeant Saunders, this is Sergeant DeBusk from Fort Carson,” Amanda heard a man say. “How can we be of service, over?”

  “Yes sergeant, we are a party of seven in need of medical assistance. Can you help us, over?”

  “Yes we can sergeant. Are you on foot or mobile, over?” The question struck Amanda as strange – who would be talking on a CB while walking?

  “We are mobile, sir. We are currently southbound on US-25, south of Cheyenne, over.”

  “Very good, sergeant. We are at mile marker 269, southbound to Fort Carson. We have a medic with our convoy. We’ll wait for you, over.” />
  “Roger that, sir. We should be there in 20 minutes, out.” Amanda put the mic onto the dashboard. Audrey was smiling. Amanda was too, but she was also hiding a little fear because of the Canadians she’d run across. She didn’t share her fears with Audrey because Andy took that moment to come forward.

  “Are we there yet?” he asked.

  “We’ll be coming up on a convoy in a little bit,” Amanda told the boy.

  “Why don’t you go wake up the other kids. They’ll want to be awake for this. There’s other people ahead and maybe some other kids,” Audrey told him.

  As promised, there was a medic waiting when they came upon the convoy of six military HUMVEEs. There were also heavily-armed guards in uniform. The sergeant, the one obviously in charge, came up to her window.

  “Are you Sergeant Saunders?” He asked.

  “Yes, and we have an injured man inside. He was attacked by some beasts,” she told him, getting out of the truck. She was still wearing the same loose jeans and tee shirt from her run the previous day. The sergeant, who appeared about her age, maybe a few years older, looked at her.

  Amanda reached back through the window and pulled out her wallet that she had on the dash. Chopper, who had jumped up into the driver’s seat licked her arm as she reached in. She flipped it open to she her military ID. The sergeant looked at it, then back at the medical personnel. “Okay guys, get in there,” he told them.

  She and the sergeant, who slung his rifle over his shoulder, walked around to the side of the RV, Chopper jumped out of the truck and followed. “He has a daughter in there as well. She’s eight. She’ll want to stay with him. They’ve been through a lot of hell.”

  “It looks like you have as well, sergeant. That looks like blood down the side of your RV.”

  “Yea, I had one of those beasts try to catch a ride with me. He couldn’t hang on anymore once I shot his face off.”

  “I can’t wait to hear the whole story. I’m Sergeant DeBusk, Robert DeBusk,” he said as Dan was brought out on a stretcher and taken to the Army truck with a red cross on the side. “You’ll be debriefed by someone on the base. You’ll probably want hot showers, clean clothes and some food.” The kids who piled out of the RV nodded to the soldier.

  Audrey was the last one out. “Damn, I love the sight of a man in uniform,” she said as sultry as Amanda had ever heard a woman talk. Sgt. DeBusk blushed. “My wife says the same thing, miss,” he told her. They stood around and waited for word from the medics. Chopper played with the kids to keep them busy while the sergeant filled Amanda and Audrey in on the base that had been set up at Fort Carson.

  “General Angela Parker is the officer in charge of the base. She was a staff general for the Secretary of the Army before Armageddon, that’s what we call it. She was on Fort Carson when all the people started dying and when she didn’t die, she thought there might be more who didn’t, so she started calling out for them.

  “From what I was told, there were seven people who were still alive on the base when people finished dying, another 100 or so in Denver, where I was on leave, a few dozen from Colorado Springs and stragglers coming in, like you, show up every few days.

  “Parker, who had been a surgeon, and the five soldiers who stayed with her started collecting food and supplies and preserving as much as they could. When people started showing up, Parker made it a community. The more people she got on base, the more resources she had to search out for more people in need.

  “Now we have more than 300 people living there, and despite the hell everyone has been through, we hear stories that there are worse places to be,” the sergeant said. “You guys have already run into the mutants. You’re lucky to have survived. Some people here have lost most of their party to mutant attacks.”

  Amanda was about to ask about them when the medic came out of the back of the truck and came up to them.

  “Well, he’s doing better,” the medic, who was wearing captain’s bars and the Caduceus of the medical field on his collar. “I’ll have to take the foot off just above the ankle because of the damage, but the anti toxins have already started working.”

  “Where’s his daughter?” Amanda asked, concerned that the eight year old might have gotten misplaced in the rush to save her dad.

  “Private Donnelly and she are playing on a laptop in front truck. Donnelly is just a kid himself and has a lot of games to keep her entertained while her dad is out of it,” the doctor told Amanda. “I think we’d best get back on the road sergeant. We’ve got another two hours before we get back to camp and I’m sure these people would like a nice shower and warm bed.”

  Soldiers and civilians who were standing around got back into their vehicles at the sound of Sergeant DeBusk’s whistle. Amanda, Audrey and her three kids got back in the RV. On the CB, Sergeant DeBusk asked them to fall into line in front of his HUMVEE. He had a Gatling gun mounted on top and was the rear guard for the convoy.

  The next two hours were a pleasant but slow drive. Andy and Will played games on the laptop while Beth used Amanda’s hairbrush to brush the dog. He didn’t move as the little girl brushed him for nearly 45 minutes before falling asleep on the floor with him. Audrey picked her up and put her on the couch and covered her up.

  Amanda and Audrey spoke quietly about their histories and what they hoped to find at Ft. Carson. They shared potato chips and Poweraid when the boys fell asleep a half hour out of Ft. Carson.

  The sergeant from the convoy had called ahead and housing had been prepared. Gen. Parker made it a point to make sure those coming onto base were made as comfortable as possible to help ease the stressed nerves of the new world they were entering.

  The convoy pulled up to the main gate of the base and the second truck in line, an older Army truck, and Amanda’s RV were motioned to the side. There must have been a generator running because this gate had high-intensity sodium vapor lights. Two soldiers from the gate came to the RV and politely asked the two women and three children to exit the truck. They did so and Amanda introduced herself and Chopper to the soldier in charge of the gate. “We’re glad you’re here, sergeant, we really are,” the specialist said as the other soldier walked around the truck. “We just have to be careful. Do you mind if we go inside and look around?”

  “What if I say no?” Amanda asked, a little off put by her treatment.

  “That’s fine with us sergeant. If you want to continue on base, you can park your truck over there,” he said pointing to a distant parking lot, “and walk on post.”

  “No, that’s okay, specialist. I was just wondering. Feel free to look around,” Amanda said.

  “I know this probably feels like an invasion of privacy, but we had a couple of incidences with some people who aren’t as law abiding as we are. We’re just trying to be careful,” he told her. “Does your dog bite?” he asked, looking at Chopper who sat beside Amanda.

  “When properly motivated,” Amanda told him. “He saved my life in Spokane by attacking another dog, and he saved me from the mutants in Montana. He can sniff them out from hundreds of yards away.”

  “The general will love to hear about him, sergeant. Those sons of bitches have killed a lot of our people and the stories of people coming here have been terrible. Be sure you mention your dog to her.”

  The private who inspected the interior came out and told the specialist it was clear.

  “You’re good to go sergeant,” he said, putting a sticker on the inside of her windshield. “This will allow you in and out of the base without as many problems.

  “Just go inside and take the first left. There’s three quarters that have been readied for you and your friends. Someone will be by in the morning to help all of you get settled in if you decide to stay.”

  Amanda thanked the specialist and followed the Army truck into the base. The truck turned right at the first intersection and followed the rest of the trucks in the convoy. Amanda turned left and drove down to the end of the cul-de-sac. She saw signs out fron
t with “Sanders” written them. Amanda assumed these were the quarters prepared for them.

  Amanda and Chopper led the way. Audrey picked up Beth and carried her in, followed by the boys. They found keys in the door locks so Amanda wished Audrey and the kids pleasant dreams. Her quarters were fine for tonight, but she was more interested in moving on to Alabama. She looked through the kitchen and found fresh food in the refrigerator and freezer. Not much, but enough to make a decent meal with meat and potatoes.

  While her steak was in the frying pan, she let Chopper out into the fenced in yard and went to the RV to get his food and a change of clothes for after her shower. She also grabbed her laptop and some CDs to listen to.

  It felt good to settle in for the evening. She felt safe on the military compound and the food made her sleepy. She didn’t make it to her writing or even put the music on. She was surprised she even remembered to let Chopper in and feed him.

  Amanda fell asleep with the kitchen light on and dirty plates on the kitchen counter. The shower would have to wait until morning.

  She slept long and dreamless.

  Chapter 9

  Tony was monitoring the radio when he heard Keith’s call. “She’s coming for you! She….” was all he heard before the gunshots. Tony tried for five more minutes to reach Keith, but with no success.

  The silence told the story. He called for Jerry who had returned from the depot 10 days earlier with all sorts of cool Army equipment, including radios.

  “I think she’s on her way, Jerry. And I think they killed Keith. I heard gunshots then nothing.”

  Jerry hung his head. He’d hoped for more time to prepare the farm, but now he had to expect Cheryl within a day or two and he didn’t think they were prepared enough yet.

  Danny had dug up and re-buried the bodies of the brigands far outside their farm. Tony had tested his electric fencing by putting up a strand around the burial plot. When they checked the area the next day through the telescope, they saw four dead zombies, but the burial mound had been dug into and bodies were littered about.