The problem with that was, the infected weren’t an army; they were a mass and came from all directions at once, except the airport. Ian turned onto the runway whose gate was now unlocked, thanks to the two dead men who came from there. They didn’t slow to close it, instead choosing to take the runway away from anything that screamed.
Even in his haste, Ian realized things weren’t quite right. He had never been there before, but he did know it was a public airport. So why were there military barracks being constructed?
Workers and soldiers jumped to their feet, some aiming their guns at the van only to realize that the real threat was running through the gate immediately behind it, changing the focus of their attention.
Ian kept driving; they didn’t have the fire power for a fight, nor the man power. He was in an unarmored van with two kids, and he could barely move his left arm. His neck was twisted, his back screamed, and his bell had definitely been rung. Suddenly, they were in the darkness of a night time runway, all the commotion left behind, and he slowed knowing that he had disabled the brake lights and they could relax for a minute while they figured out their next move.
“North Koreans?” Ty asked.
“Yeah, as far as I can tell, they started this whole mess.”
“What mess?” Macy asked.
“This thing…” Ian stated then paused to see how to make it clearer. “This disease that turned everyone into monsters. It was them, well… them and someone else. We’re not sure who yet but signs are pointing toward a Middle Eastern country, probably Iran but it could be Saudi or a terrorist group like Taliban or Isis.” Ian saw Macy’s eyes narrow with hate. He could only imagine what she had been through. Just weeks ago, this kid had some kind of structure around her. It could have been a family, or social services, or whatever, but there was something there, something or someone who she loved and cared about. That person or thing more than likely tried to eat them at one point or other.
“So, are you going to take us to your safe house?” Ty asked.
“I’m going to try. I don’t know where it is from here, though, and I don’t know how to get out of here to begin with. Hey, hand me my helmet, would you please?” He put the helmet on and held the button down to turn on the coms. It was a little before midnight, so he knew he was early. He was probably out of range and wouldn’t pick up a signal, but he had to try.
“Hey, the National Guard section isn’t fenced or walled in. We should be able to get out of here through there.”
“Where is that?”
“We toured it this spring in school. Wait… where is Chase Field?” Ty said and struggled to look out the window for the landmark.
“It’s over there,” Ian said and indicated with his head toward a distant silhouette.
The thought of how many infected he had dodged between here and there was staggering and helped to bring into focus the magnitude of what had been done to his country. He had seen over a million converging on the stadium and Two Stick Arena, not to mention all the ones trapped inside the convention center and those that were still in the neighborhoods. Phoenix was one of the most populated cities in the country at almost a million and a half people. How many were now walking around looking to feed?
“Then go to the right. When you see the C130s look for streets, which should lead us out of here,” Ty said and took the passenger seat.
“Can you shoot that thing?” Ian asked as he indicated the stolen gun in the boy’s hand. He regretted not being able to recover the automatic weapons of the guards, but the infected were too close.
“Yeah, well… probably not as good as Macy, but I can manage,” Ty replied with a smirk and a wink toward the girl, who sighed and sat back against an open spot on the wall.
Ian keyed his mic, only to be repelled by a squelching sound that blasted his ears.
“Ahh!” he said, wanting to throw his helmet off. “They must have all of the coms shut down at the airport.”
“Who are you trying to call?” Ty asked.
“My people. They’re supposed to search for me at twelve and six, day and night.”
“Over, there. Those houses, just take the streets, any of them should lead you out to the service road.”
“What about all of the infected?”
“I don’t know, what do you usually do?”
“Run them over, I guess.”
He stopped, and with his lights off, he scanned a horde ahead that was occupying the guard base. It took him a few minutes, but he realized they were all gravitating toward the commotion they had just left behind near the barracks that were being built. Their initial misdirection created a trajectory that kept them out of the paths of the migration; all they had to do was wait, and the streets should clear themselves.
Unless, of course, they were being pursued. He scanned the mirrors and rolled down his window to listen, but all he could hear were the moans and frustrated screams of the infected, so he waited.
“Is your arm going to be all right?” Ty asked.
“I don’t know. I think it is wrenched a little bit, but I can still move my fingers,” Ian replied as he watched an opening begin to appear. It widened on the far-left road, and he readied himself. He didn’t know the streets or area, so he didn’t want to take it too fast nor without headlights so he slowly slid it into gear and let the natural RPMs of the engine power them slowly forward.
The road cleared more, and they were only thirty feet away from it when heads finally started to turn in their direction. He knew they couldn’t hear the engine over their own noise, so it must be the movement of the large object that attracted them. He threw the headlights on bright and pressed down on the accelerator hard, but not to the floor.
Headlights from other places in the Air National Guard housing came to life as they made their move to escape the airport grounds. The trail of headlights turned in their direction as they began pursuit.
“Who are they?” Ty asked as if he expected Ian to know. Unfortunately, he did know… of course he knew.
“Guards, of course. They wouldn’t leave an open access to the airfield unguarded.” He sped up, giving him just enough of a trajectory to beat the pursuit by fifty or sixty feet, which grew when their pursuers to take a sharp right in his direction to follow him. Ian blasted out on to the highway and took a left, knowing that taking a right led him back toward the lot where he fought the guard as well as closer to Chase Field, where a multitude of infected now hovered.
The cube van was never designed to be a racer, so he wouldn’t have burning tires or radical moves available to him, but what it did have was a lot of power, which helped him in the upper speed range more than the take off. Possibly more so than a military vehicle, but he didn’t know for sure, as he didn’t know what the NORK’s were driving.
“They’re gaining on us pretty good,” Ty said from the passenger seat.
“Well… I guess that’s better than them using the machine gun turret on the back of one of their rigs, now isn’t it. You kids better keep your heads down,” Ian said as he took a dirt road that sloped away from a controlled parking entrance. The road was rough and dusty with a lot of loose soil that bogged him down. He realized that the vehicles chasing him probably wouldn’t have as much problem with the loose soil and would catch him in no time, but there was nothing he could do about that except keep heading forward as fast as he could make this beast move.
The road led under an overpass. and he took a left, which suggested it might take him up to the highway above. He began to feel the impacts of machine gun fire and noted the force in which they hit. The bullets were close and heavy, not only going completely through the upper right-hand side of the cube but also forcing him to fishtail drastically in the sand, tipping the van up on to two wheels before it settled down again.
“Holy fuck, they have a ma deuce or something equivalent in that thing,” Ian said.
“Yeah? What does that mean?”
“It means we’re as good as
dead,” Ian replied. “Both of you lie down on the floor, flat. For god’s sake, just one of those rounds will cut either one of you in half.
They did as asked, and Jasper mimicked them by lying flat on the floor with them. Ian knew it was only a matter of seconds before one of those big bullets came through the van, hitting something vital; he just hoped it wasn’t him. He was almost up to the highway now, though that wasn’t going to help him. Several vehicles lined the shoulders, looking as if they had been abandoned by someone attacked or turned while driving. He rounded up a small rise and was on pavement before they could line up another shot, and now he floored it.
He didn’t make it a hundred yards before he came to a roadblock of abandoned vehicles. A roadblock that looked like it had been set there on purpose. The lane was too narrow to turn around, causing him to realize that he had been pushed into a trap, and there was nothing he could do about it. He slowed to a stop.
“You guys cover yourselves with those moving blankets and hopefully you can get out of here after they are done with me.”
“What are they going to do to you?” Macy asked.
“I have no idea. Probably kill me,” Ian said as lead started to tear up the engine cowling right beside him and track up into the dash, causing a display of lights and sparks. The engine clunked a couple times, and with a final cough, died. Large holes let in street light from the back door.
“You guys stay in here. I will try to lead them away. Jasper, stay.” Ian checked his magazine to see four in and one full one in his… nope, it was gone. He must have lost it in the fight, and he had no time to search for more rounds. Four bullets would have to do since he wasn’t going to take the kids’ stolen gun; they would probably need it.
Voices shouted at him from a PA system, and he opened the door after sliding his gun behind his back. There were three vehicles blocking him in, and all of them were off-loading people who trained rifles down on him.
Ian put his hands on his head and stepped away from the vehicle. He didn’t know for sure if that was what they wanted, but he assumed it was. Ian would need a much more direct instruction before he would take to his belly. He noticed there was a lot of movement around them as bodies in the opposing lane shifted here and there, though he didn’t hear their moans or shrieks.
Men shouted at him in Korean as he struggled to see a couple more vehicles moving quickly down the highway toward them, and Ian knew he was totally and royally fucked. He dropped to his knees with his hands on his head.
Then something amazing happened.
“Hey bud, drop on to your belly.” The words, spoken in perfect English, came from behind him. He thought from the direction of it that someone was up at the hood of the cube van, tucked low in front of the engine block. “That little peashooter tucked into your belt isn’t going to help you much, anyway.”
Ian did as instructed, and the Korean shouts slowed to a more tactical instructive mode. He slid his hands to his ears just as the night was suddenly lit up with the sounds of a ma deuce, but they weren’t coming from the Korean vehicle. Instead, their vehicle jumped and shuddered like they were being pelleted with the giant chunks of lead. Ian dared to look up and saw that the vehicles coming down the highway were opening up on his captors. Then the telltale sounds of an M4 bored to 5.56 started firing behind him, and the Koreans were on the run, shooting as they moved.
Unfortunately, the only target they had acquired was Ian, and the concrete roadway started to chip and splinter right in front of him, sending sharp shards into his face. He covered up and tried to roll under the van until he hit the step rail, where he was barely able to scoot under. It seemed like minutes, but in truth it was only seconds until the shots stopped.
“All right buddy, it’s all over. Can you stand?”
“Yeah, I’m good. I got some rocks in my face, is all,” Ian replied.
“Okay. Keep your hands where I can see them and back away from the van. We’ll give you a proper interview back at base.”
“Base? I have some things in the van I can’t leave behind.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
“A dog, two children, and my pack.”
The man behind stepped up to him and pulled the 1911 out of his waistband. “Yeah? You got any more guns in there?”
“Just one that the kid took off a guard.”
“Is that the guard who beat the hell out of you?”
“You saw that?”
“Yeah, sorry. Not your proudest moment, I’m sure. That dude busted you up pretty good. Okay, get them out here and have them grab your gear,” the man said.
“Hey Ty—” Ian started to say as he made his way to the van.
“Yeah, we heard him. Here’s the gun,” Ty said and tossed the pistol out before he began pushing Ian’s pack out.
“Is there anything in that pack I should know about?” the man asked Ian.
“Some magazines for my SCAR that took a crap on me back in the convention center.”
“Convention center. You’re a part of that group, huh?”
“Yeah, another half-brained scheme of Ian’s.”
“Ian, we’ve been hearing that name on the radio… is he your boss?”
“Nope, he’s me.”
“Ah, well… we have lots to talk about then, Ian. Crawl into the back of that truck there, and we’ll get you back to base,” the man said. There was something about the man’s demeanor that told Ian he wasn’t going to get much say in the matter. Either way, it was better than being in the hands of the Koreans or the infected.
Ian and the kids climbed into the back of the truck. When Ian grabbed for his helmet, the back window of the truck slid open almost immediately.
“Leave the helmet off, sport,” a firm voice said from inside the darkened cab.
“Yeah, all right. I was just going to call my crew and let them know that I am okay,” Ian said honestly.
“Let’s just see how things shake out before you talk to anyone.”
Ian tried to break the ice. “No problem, been a rough few weeks, huh?” Ian said as a way of breaking ice.
“Just relax; we’ll get a chance to talk.” The man slid the window halfway closed.
Ian watched the streets and building they passed, seeing little movement; however, there was some, but it was different than the way the infected moved. He was also conscious that the kids were staring at him expectantly. All he could do was shrug. He didn’t know any more about what was going on than they did.
Soon they pulled into the same National Guard base that he remembered seeing on the map—Camelback, or something like that. He could practically point to where the safe house was, though several miles away. Ian watched for it but knew what the sign on the gate would say: East Camelback Village. The fence and gate were secured with guards who had become adept at staying out of sight. A smart practice if you want to avoid being seen by infected.
They drove down a straight road toward a building that looked as if it had seen some action… but not nearly what the rest of the city had gone through.
“Hey look,” Macy said, and both of them looked toward where the girl was pointing. Rows of pristine helicopters that looked as if they hadn’t been moved in weeks sat in the dark.
“How did you spot those in this light?” Ty asked incredulously.
“I am getting pretty used to seeing things in the dark, or at least their outline.”
“Outline?” Ian queried.
“She means silhouette,” Ty replied just as the window slid open.
“Keep it down back there. Sound carries for miles out here. We don’t want any nasties showing up at our fence in the middle of the night.”
“I am surprised they haven’t yet.”
“Quiet now, let’s just get inside, and you can talk all you want,” the man said as Ian wondered why none of these helicopters were put into the fight. He thought back and realized Phoenix was never mentioned as some sort of safe zone or embattled against the dead. T
hese were guard aircrafts and wouldn’t be on the radar for El Paso to get their hands on. They were simply never deployed.
They led them into a large complex that looked more as if it were designed to hold cubicles instead of a guard unit or two. They walked halls that seemed endless, the combination of feet hitting the hard tile floor causing a continuous rattle to echo from the empty space. They left that building and accessed a small entry invisible from the parking lot that opened to a long flight of stairs leading down.
One of their guards flipped a switch, and the way ahead of them lit up. At the lower level Ian saw that this was where they had set up their base of operations, complete with barracks, cafeteria, communications center as well as more lit hallways leading off into the distance. It was toward one of these hallways where they were led, with only a few sets of eyes looking up to see that they were indeed strangers.
Down the hall, were semi-private apartments where people, mainly civilians, were holed up. They watched everything and everyone with haunted eyes and looked like they were ready to fight or run at any given moment. Ian assumed they were people rescued off the streets and had passed some sort of quarantine or were under observation of some sort.
The hall came to a T, where they went to the right and knocked on the door at the end of the hall.
“Enter,” a voice said. They walked through the door to be greeted by an older man, who remained seated. “Report Sergeant,” the man said.
“Colonel Tisdale, sir, this is the group we picked up after the skirmish at the airport. We also believe them to be the ones who started the migration to the stadium, sir.”
“Very well. Thank you, Sergeant. Please, everyone, take a seat.” The man looked through some papers on his desk. Ian couldn’t imagine what kind of papers someone could have to look at during this kind of event, but then again… maybe somebody actually had their act together. He set the papers down and looked at the three as if he had done this several times before.
For Which We Stand: Ian's road (A Five Roads To Texas Novel Book 3) Page 13
