The Pilgrim Strain

by Edgar, C. P.

  He noticed that the group had stopped to watch and he threw his hands forward motioning for them to keep going, “Go, go!”

  ***

  Rainer sat there in the front passenger seat of the Toyota trying to digest the words he had just heard. He and Kef had made the drive without incident and had moved to a staging area located about a kilometer south of Helechek and Daggan’s overwatch position. They had parked the trucks in a slight depression in the rolling fields and had been monitoring the situation developing over the radio network.

  The original plan had been to move north to the extraction location on the eastern border of the refugee camp then circle east and then south on the far side of the ridge to pick up Chek and Daggan on their way out.

  Rainer was trying to calm himself. The anger was boiling within and he was having a hard time controlling it. He knew without a doubt that Brewster was playing him for a fool and had put his team in mortal jeopardy, twice. He mind was jumping ahead; mentally playing out the revenge he wanted to enact on the man but he knew he needed to focus on the situation at hand first. He decided to punch the dashboard once just the same.

  “What’s the play boss?” Kef asked. He was standing outside on Rainer’s side of the truck. He was fully dressed out including plate carrier and helmet with NVGs. Rainer appreciated Kef’s ability to understand the importance of calm professionalism.

  “First, we’re going to get our guys out, then we’re going to find and waste that fuck Brewster.”

  “Roger that.”

  Way off in the distance coming from the direction of the camp, they could clearly hear gunshots echoing. It wasn’t sustained like a pitched gun battle but intermittent. Kef made the observation, “Sounds one way.”

  “Yeah.” Rainer activated the radio, “Sierra One, are you seeing what we are hearing?”

  “Roger Top. All kinds of craziness going on in that camp. The clinic, where Toad and Juliet are, is in full riot. North of that location we are seeing muzzle flashes and a mob of people running toward the flashes, not away. Something is on fire way off on the other side of the camp, but we can only barely pick that up. We’re tracking our guys on the Virgins using the system beacons and it looks like they are headed away from the primary extraction point, over.” Daggan was sounding off loud and clear. Rainer imagined that he and Chek were amped up with all the action stirring in the area.

  “Ok, we’re coming to you to pull you guys out. Be ready and on the backside of the overwatch in two-five mikes, how copy?” Rainer said making sure Kef was in on the plan too.

  “Roger, packing up. Two-five mikes for a pick up. We going in Top?”

  “Looks like it. We’ll brief you guys and hot swap your weapons when we get back to this staging area, out.”

  Rainer jumped out of the passenger seat of the Toyota uncovering his Virgin as he did so. He needed to set a new series of GPS waypoints for a direct route to the eastern slope of the ridge where Chek and Daggan were located.

  “Kef, you take lead, I’ll follow thirty meters behind you.” He made his way to the Toyota and fired it up.

  They had installed blackout infrared headlight kits onto both Toyos after they had brought them back to the safe house. Rainer snapped his NVGs on and heard Kef grinding the gears searching for first. Finally finding the gear he needed, Kef pulled out slowly over the rough terrain and they began to make their way north. Rainer had to remain farther behind than he had anticipated as they had cut the rear brake lights altogether and more than once Rainer found himself quickly on Kef’s bumper as he navigated a dry riverbed or washout.

  “Top, we’ve got a visual on you. You are two hundred meters south of our location. The area is clear, over.”

  “Roger, see you in a minuuuute.” Rainer exhaled loudly into the mic as his Toyota bottomed out on a rut, pressing the air from him as his body slammed down. The rear tire spun trying to find purchase and then finally bit into the ground as the Toyota rocked over the rut.

  “You alright back there?”

  “Yeah, I'm good,” Rainer said, smirking at the thought of Kef busting his balls.

  Moments later they picked up three IR flashes off their left side and came to a stop. Helechek and Daggan, both wearing ghillie tops materialized out of the darkness running the last few meters to the back of the trucks. Helechek threw his kit into the rear of Kef’s truck and jumped into the front passenger area. Kef began a wide right turn circling back in the direction from which they came.

  Daggan ran up to Rainer’s window and said “boo” before throwing his gear into the back. He ran around the rear of the truck and jumped in. “What’s up boss, miss me?”

  “Yeah, I missed your stink. Jesus, Daggan, did you guys at least pack baby wipes for your ass?”

  Daggan just grinned as Rainer let the clutch out and began his loping right-hand turn to follow Kef. It took him a moment to pick up on the vehicle which had dipped down on the other side of a small hill but eventually they caught back up.

  Rainer asked, “How’d it look?”

  Daggan was busy pulling out a tin of Copenhagen from the small kit bag he brought up to the front with him. “Small arms fire is picking up. Those security forces that came in earlier are engaged. Hard to see long range with the night optics, but in the areas that are backlit by lights we saw people running in every direction. I had the parabolic up before we tore down the site and I could clearly hear screaming coming from everywhere in there. You know, typical night in the Sudan.”

  Daggan grabbed a large pinch of snuff and put it in his lower lip. He put his hand out the window and snapped his fingers a few times trying to get the residual snuff off of them.

  Rainer grabbed the hand mic, “Kef, let’s go ahead and rally here. We’ll let Sierra and Viking get themselves squared away now.”

  Rainer nearly crashed again into the back of Kef’s vehicle. Daggan didn’t have his NVGs mounted but had been able to pick up the back end of the vehicle at the very last moment. It was close enough to where Daggan threw both hands on the dash expecting a collision.

  “Damn boss, you suck at driving.” He jumped out and was already in the back of the truck changing out his weapon before Rainer had time to tell him to suck it.

  With the mic still in his hand, Rainer tried to contact Einberg, “Juliet, what’s your status?”

  Miller responded, “He’s a little busy right now, we’re about fifty meters from a hardened location. We’re just clearing out some hostiles, over.” Rainer had just barely picked up the muffled shots over the radio and he thought he heard someone yelling in the background.

  The rest of the team had heard it as well. Chek jumped back into Kef's vehicle having already completed his swap out. Daggan materialized at Rainer’s window and stated, “Get out, I’m driving.” Rainer thought about arguing for the sake of his manhood but then realized that it made better sense to allow him command and control from the passenger side. He abided, pushing roughly past Daggan who just smiled.

  Rainer keyed up the net when he got into his new seat, “Roger, you guys find some cover. I’ll pull your coordinates down from the system. We are inbound for a hot extraction, over.” Daggan placed the truck in gear and pulled forward coming side by side with Kef. They were both eyeing their Virgin sets, utilizing their mapping systems to locate Einberg and Miller’s coordinates.

  “Ok, listen up. Here’s the plan. We’re heading due west from this location where we’ll hit the main road just south of the refugee camp. We’re going to head north on that road to their location which looks to be set just off to the western side about two kilometers deep into the camp. We are not stopping for shit. Kef and Chek you have the lead, with me and Daggan in the follow vehicle. Once we get Einberg and Miller, we are turning around and heading back out the way we came. Final rally point is the safe house.” He took a moment to think about contingencies. He really hated hasty planning.

  “If they have the main gate blockaded we will head west along the perime
ter and get out on foot. If we get in there and can’t get out, we rally in place and replan an exit strategy. Questions?” He looked to each of his men and saw the raw determination emanating from each. It was game time and they had their game faces on. No questions surfaced.

  “Kef, take us in.”

  ***

  Einberg slammed the door shut and Miller began pushing a heavy metal desk across the room to barricade themselves in. It screeched loudly in protest. Lying on the floor on her back was Merissa, exhausted from the stress of the events. Samir was busy searching the two wooden equipment lockers set against the back of the building which actually was just a ten by ten cinder block room with a roof. The Ethiopian hadn’t made it.

  Einberg sat on top of the desk after it was pushed into place. Miller looked out the room’s only window which was more of a viewing port set about at eye level into the wall. He clicked off the lights inside the building so that he wouldn’t be backlit.

  “Come on!” Merissa said sitting up, annoyed with being thrust back into darkness. There was only a minor amount of light filtering in through the small window from an outside lamp on the road.

  Einberg placed his right index fingers to his lips and shook his head in the negative. He whispered, “We need to be quiet in here and just wait it out. Our team is on their way to pick us up and get us the hell out of here.”

  “I can’t leave,” she said with a slight sob. Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes. “This is my fault. I did this to these people.” She was starting to come apart emotionally. She wasn’t prepared to deal with this type of chaos, especially where she had played such a deciding role.

  “You didn’t do this. You were used by someone who did this. If you can pull it together and stay with us, I believe you’ll probably get another chance to meet that son of a bitch. Hell, maybe we can even get you some answers,” Einberg stated with a sinister smirk. He was musing over what he believed Rainer had planned.

  Samir, having exhausted his search of the lockers, took the desk chair from where Miller had kicked it out of the way and sat down in the corner. He was sweat soaked and still slightly out of breath. “There is no radio in here, the security forces that came here earlier must have taken them all.”

  Miller was still keeping watch through the window. “Lots of movement outside,” he announced in a hushed tone.

  They could clearly hear the sound of a large group of people running down the main road toward the camp exit. Miller didn’t observe any violence. It looked like a stampede of panicked refugees though.

  Miller watched the refugees pass for a while. They had their worldly possessions with them it seemed. He imagined that they were very accustomed to moving from place to place at a moment’s notice. He watched a small family moving on the far side of the road. Two women and three children were laboring with carrying all their goods. The children were older, probably ages eleven to thirteen but they just didn’t have the physical strength to carry the load. Plus, they looked scared to death. Miller wondered why they just didn’t grab the most important things and get the hell out of here.

  As they moved into a shadow outside of the circle of light cast by the closest lamp, the taller of the two women was suddenly grabbed from behind and dragged into the darkness. He saw the children freeze and silently fall to their knees. The youngest holding both hands out in search of the missing woman.

  Miller willed them to run and saw that the other woman had dropped her bundle and was pushing the children at a slow run along the road. From where the woman had disappeared, two small men both in uniforms materialized from the shadows. They looked about for a quick moment and then fixated on the fleeing family. They began running toward them, although one of the men clearly had been wounded and was dragging one leg along.

  “Open the door,” he commanded to Einberg who just looked at him with confusion.

  “Open the fucking door,” he said kicking the desk out of the way just as Einberg had pushed himself off it.

  Miller pulled the door open and raised his MP7 up. He used the door frame to help steady his aim and then he engaged the two uniformed pursuers who were only mere meters away from catching the smallest of the three children. Miller managed three shots at the lead runner scoring two hits just under the right armpit and a third hit to the liver. He switched targets to the second runner and got off three more rounds, the first he couldn’t tell whether it found its mark but the second and third shots found flesh. The last of those rounds found an entry point in the man’s right ear sending him running left for a few steps before he pitched forward onto the ground.

  Miller slammed the door shut and pulled the desk back to its resting place. He pulled out the magazine from the HK and replaced it with a fresh one, storing the used mag in the left cargo pocket of his pants.

  “Sorry man, I just couldn’t watch that go down.”

  Einberg gave Miller a moment and then patted him on the shoulder ending with a short squeeze. Einberg moved to the window to give Miller a chance to cool off. He nearly did a double take. In the middle of the road, the two men that Einberg had watched Miller drop were swarmed over. Huddled over each were the infected and they were tearing into the corpses. Einberg could clearly make out several refugees as well as at least three men in uniform pulling apart the bodies. With much effort, a manageable piece of flesh would tear free at which time they would sit back on their haunches and consume it.

  Einberg prided himself on his ability to stomach grotesque scenes but this was too much. He bent over and vomited right there in front of the window. Merissa looked up at him immediately. He saw the concern in her eyes and said, “I’m not sick Doc, I just have a hard time watching someone get eaten by another human.” He spit once more for good measure and then cleaned his mouth with his shirt.

  He looked at Merissa quizzically, suddenly realizing something. “Toad, what time is it?”

  Miller looked at his watch, “It’s two in the morning, what’s up?”

  “The UN security force that came in to help with the sick, how long ago was that?” Einberg asked.

  “Umm, I don’t know exactly but it was like three or four hours ago now,” Merissa was curious with the line of questioning. She was trying to piece together his problem.

  “They’re already infected,” he stated watching the group outside again. Turning away as the nausea crept back up.

  He continued, “That means the time it takes from initial exposure to full blown infection is only about three to four hours. Doctor, have you ever heard of anything that could do that?” he asked seeking her expertise.

  “No. The most aggressive contagions usually take days to manifest themselves. In this region, the most concerning is Ebola but that has a twelve to twenty-five day incubation period. The rapidity of the onset of symptoms with this seems more closely related to a nerve or chemical agent of some kind.” She sat and looked at a spot on the concrete floor in deep thought.

  “I think we are making too many conclusions. Maybe the security personnel had already been exposed days ago, prior to arriving here. You can be exposed and carry the contagion without having symptoms. I know it doesn’t add up but Samir was exposed earlier this evening and he seems fine,” she concluded pointing at Samir.

  “He what?” Miller stated emphatically jumping to his feet.

  Samir was still sitting in his chair but had his head in his hands, with his face toward the floor. A long string of drool had escaped his lips and was dripping onto the floor below. His body was tense, like it was being electrocuted. He coughed, finally releasing the pressure that had built up and painted the floor with mucous speckled with crimson. He groaned slightly and then stood bolt upright. His left eye contained no visible white. It had been completely replaced by blood. His right eye looked normal but was not moving. It was fixed on Merissa.

  She softly whispered, “No, Samir.”

  He launched at her but was intercepted by Miller who struck him deep into his good eye w
ith the barrel of the gun. He pushed him backwards using the weapon and then swept his legs out from under him.

  Samir frantically crawled away from Miller a few meters and then turned on all fours hissing as he did. Miller and Einberg had taken up firing positions off to either side of Samir in a loose triangulation. Einberg began pulling in the slack on his trigger.

  Merissa yelled, “No, wait. Samir. Can you hear me, Samir?” She was trying to utilize a soothing voice.

  It didn’t work. Samir screamed at her and then pushed off trying to launch himself at her again. Einberg shot him through the top of his head stopping his upward momentum. Samir slumped to the ground. His head wound bleeding profusely and pooling quickly all around him.

  Merissa stood erect. She had pushed herself all the way against the far wall opposite to where Samir had fallen. Her hands were up covering her mouth, concealing her horror. Tears were falling down both cheeks. She started moving toward Samir to check his pulse.

  “No!” Miller put his arm in front of her, blocking her path. “He’s gone. He was already gone. There is nothing you can do for him. Do not get exposed.”

  Merissa fell to her knees sobbing.

  Einberg looked at Miller, “We need to get the fuck out of here. Where are they?” He looked out the window just in time to see one of the sick from outside looking in on them. He had blood streaking down both sides of his chin and was looking directly at Einberg. He seemed to be trying to decide what to do. He pushed his face against the glass and tried sniffing it, and then he licked the glass. He began pulling his head back and opened his mouth to utter a scream when his face exploded from the side, leaving the window covered with his blood and gore.

  Several more muffled gunshots rang out in quick succession then all fell silent again. Einberg would have liked to have seen what was going on outside but that wasn’t going to happen. He and Miller had moved away from the door to either side just in case whatever was out there wasn’t friendly. Suddenly, three hard knocks boomed against the door, followed by “Housekeeping.”