Transformation: Zombie Crusade VI

by Vohs, J. W.

  “I certainly hope someone has taken more care with the president’s quarters—whoever is responsible for the upkeep of this place deserves to be demoted.” Thelma located a broom and dustpan and began sweeping the small kitchen.

  “Do you think this is where we’ll be staying?” Andi asked, fishing to see if Thelma knew any more about this trip than she did.

  “Good Lord, I can’t even imagine such a thing! I’m sure that President Barnes just had some important business to attend to—he can’t be bothered with us when he has a country to run,” Thelma scolded.

  Andi couldn’t help herself. “A country to run? What country is that, Thelma? Do you seriously consider him to be the president of the United States? What United States?”

  Thelma spun around and shook the broom handle at Andi. “How dare you, after all that man has done for you! While most people are struggling to feed themselves and stay safe, you’ve been living in luxury like a queen. What do you expect—do you think that he can just wave a magic wand and fix everything?”

  Even though Andi wanted nothing more at that moment than to slap the woman silly, she knew that short-term rewards needed to be sacrificed for long-term gain. She sank into a chair and pretended to cry. “You’re right, of course,” she sniffed. “Sometimes it just feels like everything’s been lost, and like there’s no way back.” She wiped away imaginary tears and buried her face in her hands. “Can you ever forgive me?”

  “Oh, of course, dearie,” Thelma sounded truly sympathetic. “I can’t expect everyone to be as strong as me. I only focus on the positive—you should try that.”

  Andi nodded vigorously and scurried over to the sink to splash water on her face. When she finally turned to face Thelma, she managed to look contrite. “Can you help me? I want to be a better person.”

  Thelma walked over and gave Andi a hug. “I’m not saying it will be easy. I’m not blind to all the suffering in the world, but I’ve learned to look to the future rather than wallow in the past or have too many expectations for the present.”

  Andi felt sullied by Thelma’s embrace. She took a step back and asked, “Do you mind if I take a shower and put on some clean clothes? I always feel dirty after a long flight.”

  “An excellent idea, my dear. You go get cleaned up, and I’ll work on this place.” Thelma patted Andi’s shoulder. “Just think about how lucky you are to be in California this time of year.”

  Barnes stared at Major Pruitt across the table and wondered what on earth ever possessed him to put this lummox in charge of such a valuable operation. Of course, Pruitt was unquestioningly loyal, and that counted for something, but he lacked imagination.

  “Major, I truly appreciate the detail in these reports.” Barnes waved his hand over the stacks of files and folders between them and leaned forward. “What I need to know right now is where we stand on our timetable.”

  “We haven’t quite doubled our beef stock, but we’re close. I’ve tried to coordinate with Daniels to figure out a smooth transition for getting the infected we’ve been rounding up around here down to one of his holding facilities, but he’s not been very reliable, sir.” Major Pruitt wiped his brow. “I don’t mean to throw him under the bus, but he’s the reason we’re not where we need to be.”

  “You’d be a fool if you didn’t throw Daniels under the bus, Pruitt. Somebody is responsible for slowing things down out here, and whoever that is will be dealt with by the end of the week.” Barnes stared menacingly at the major. “I need my western army, at least one million resilient creatures, and all necessary supplies, ready to move out in two months. The Utah rebels will be wiped out before spring sets in. That, Major Pruitt, is non-negotiable.”

  Gracie actually got the drop on Luke on Christmas morning. His normal routine usually involved him drifting off to sleep at the same time she did, but then he would awaken and slip out of the tent just a few hours later. Today was different. She immediately dug around in her pack and pulled out a small gift wrapped in old newspaper. She’d been holding it since the day they’d salvaged items from stores in Shreveport and couldn’t wait to see the look on Luke’s face when he opened it. When she peered his way to see if he was still asleep she was almost startled to see him staring back at her with those intense, black eyes of his. “What’re you up to?” He demanded.

  She coyly pulled the gift behind her back. “Nothing, just digging around to see if Santa brought you anything.”

  Luke laughed at that. “I haven’t been a very good boy this year.”

  She leaned over to nuzzle his cheek as she murmured, “Oh, you’ve been a very, very good boy this year.”

  He playfully pushed her away a few inches. “Jews don’t do Christmas.”

  She put her hand to her mouth in mock horror. “Oh my gosh, are you Jewish?”

  Luke just sighed and shook his head. “Well, smarty-pants, Santa knows you’re Jewish so he didn’t deliver anything to our tent last night.”

  “Well,” Gracie stuck out her bottom lip as she pretended to pout. What about us Messianic Jews?”

  Luke shook his head. “Nope, too much confusion for ‘ol Santa.”

  He then quickly pulled a small item from one of the multitude of pockets on his pack. “Luckily for you I remembered that Santa might be confused about your status—I got you a present instead.”

  Gracie was genuinely surprised. “I figured there was no way you’d think about Christmas after all we’ve been through lately.”

  “Ahh,” Luke confessed, “really didn’t think about it until I was scrounging around in one of those stores in Shreveport. I saw something there that was you, all you, and I put it away for a special occasion.”

  Gracie bounced on her knees in excitement a few times until the pain reminded her that the only thing between them and the rock-hard ground was a self-inflating mattress pad and a sleeping bag. “Here,” she thrust her gift into his hands. “You first.”

  Luke smiled shyly at his wife, suddenly reminded that they were very much newlyweds. He opened the wrapping to discover an old, very cool gas mask.

  “How did you know this is what I always wanted?”

  She looked doubtful. “Do you like it? I found it in a glass display case at an army surplus store filled with vintage items. I liked the leather face-gear. I mean, I know we don’t have to worry about airborne threats—at least not yet—but I can’t get you to wear your helmet at all these days, and this thing will offer some protection without all the bulkiness you hate.”

  Luke lovingly ran his fingers across the crafted leatherwork surrounding the eyepieces and filter. “Gracie, you have no idea how much I love this thing. You’ll see me wearing it every time the wind kicks up on the river for one thing; my face has been freezing out there.”

  “And you’ll look very intimidating in it too,” Gracie added.

  Luke kissed her. “Thanks, baby, I love it.”

  He then held up a small box that obviously contained jewelry. Luke hadn’t bothered to wrap it but that was fine with Gracie; after an apocalypse it really was the thought that counted on the first Christmas. “Here,” he said softly, “Merry Christmas, Gracie.”

  She carefully took the box from his hand, opened it beneath a beam of light shining through the wall of the tent, and caught her breath. Luke had somehow found a necklace with a golden Star of David surrounding a diamond-crusted, Christian cross. The chain was also made of gold, but so thick that she couldn’t imagine a situation in which it might break.

  “Baby,” she began, “it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Luke smiled with satisfaction. “I was hoping that it would remind you of your family whenever you saw it.”

  She nodded with tears brimming in her eyes. “I got you an old gas mask.”

  Luke laughed so hard and long she eventually had to join him. As they finally caught their breath he explained, “I’ve always heard that it’s the thought that counts, but everyone who ever said that didn’t consider
the end of the world. Now, it’s what you can find that counts, and money has no meaning at all. I love my gift as much as you love yours, and I love the giver much, much more.”

  She held out the necklace. “Put it on me?”

  He gently pulled the chain around her neck before connecting the clasp. “Hold on,” he whispered before putting on his new gas mask.

  “You do look scary,” she admitted.

  “Merry Christmas,” Luke muffled through the mask before they both collapsed into laughter yet again.

  After seeing Gracie and the others off an hour after sunrise Christmas morning, Luke asked Terry to bring him fifty of the most experienced, competent soldiers still in camp. The youngster brought four squads from Maddy’s company, and Gracie’s most experienced scouting team. That left sixty fighters to guard the entrenched, staked camp flanked on two sides by the river, so Luke had no concerns about leaving them behind to maintain security until his return. He suspected that when his wife and friends learned of this recon mission they would be furious with him, but he honestly believed that this was the most efficient use of the forces they had available. Besides, they kept insisting that he was their leader, so they needed to get used to not questioning his decisions.

  Even in abundant protective gear and carrying weapons, the soldiers could move along at a miles-devouring trot and not significantly weaken themselves while doing so. Luke led them to I-30 in less than an hour. The roads in the area were among the worst they’d ever seen, filled with burnt-out vehicles and uncountable human bones scattered about. But the obstacles were no problem for the agile fighters, and they flowed through the wreckage quietly and quickly as their commander mentally noted the condition of the big-box stores on the north side of Texarkana from his relatively elevated position on the highway. Several times, mirrors flashed at the column from buildings to the south, a universal signal asking for assistance, but the troops didn’t deviate from their primary mission in spite of the calls for help.

  What bothered Luke as the miles passed was that he hadn’t seen or heard any infected. From Watkins’ report, he’d expected to run into packs of hunters as he led his force toward the Army depot, but the outer buildings of the facility had come into view with no sign of the flesh-eaters. Luke had no intention of actually entering the base today, but he did want to know the condition of the roads as well as what level of opposition his main force would face when they moved on the depot the next day. So far, the highways appeared to need serious attention if they were to be used by vehicles anytime soon.

  The first sign of the creatures was a howl that carried across the frigid air from the direction of the base, a nerve-rattling hunting cry that was almost immediately matched from a pack working along the north side of the interstate. For all of his experience fighting hunters across half the continent, Luke’s instinct was to seek out and destroy the monsters in the area, but the commander within understood that he would be doing nothing but jeopardizing the mission if he chose to take that type of action. He gave the order to retreat instead.

  The troops immediately sought concealment amid the countless cars and trucks on the highway, ducking down and moving as quickly as possible back toward the road that would lead them northward to their camp. Howls were now resonating back and forth across I-30, but the soldiers’ skillful use of the available structures on the road made it hard for the hunters to pin down their location. Luke knew the good luck couldn’t last, and, sure enough, a few minutes later word filtered back that a large pack was moving toward them from the east. If they tried to leave the interstate they would be seen and pursued, but if they continued along the route leading to the river they’d soon be in contact with the approaching pack. Luke decided that his best course of action was to eliminate the immediate threat.

  As he quietly worked his way forward to his point man, Luke saw the monsters flitting through the burnt out cars and trucks a few hundred meters ahead. He whispered to his scout, “Got a count on them?”

  “Nine, sir, could be off by one or two, but I’m pretty sure there’re only nine of them coming.”

  “Good work,” Luke patted the man’s shoulder awkwardly. He was trying to embody the spirit of a commanding officer in the field, but it felt forced. He decided to skip the pleasantries. “We have four squads strung out behind us, and I need you to let them know that I’ll be conducting an ambush up here in a few minutes. Tell them to hold in place and keep a sharp lookout.”

  The point man looked around for a moment. “Sir, you only have three soldiers with you.”

  Luke smiled. “That’s more than enough for what I have planned; now get moving.”

  As the man took off to carry out his orders, Luke scanned the area ahead and quickly found a place that would work well for what he had in mind. Two semis had crashed at slow speed into one another, effectively closing the westbound lane of the highway. The trailers they’d been hauling now stuck out at angles away from one another, creating a rough V-shape pointing eastward from the spot where the cabs had crashed. Luke grabbed the three men with him and issued another set of orders. “I need a set of eyes on top of each of these trailers, and I need a volunteer to stay close behind me.”

  “You’ll be trapped down here, sir,” one of the men protested.

  “No,” Luke explained, “the hunters will think we’re trapped in here. This is my trap, and they’re the prey. Just watch what you see here; learn from it, and keep an eye on the flanks and rear. Now who’s with me?”

  The soldiers each looked doubtful, but the man who’d spoken up a moment before stepped forward. “I’ll stay down here with you, Captain.”

  “Good,” Luke responded, handing him a halberd. “Stay about two feet behind me and mirror my movements. If one of the creatures gets around me, pierce it right between the eyes. Now, everybody get into position.” Luke moved out to a point where the V-shape was at its widest, and that’s when he saw the alpha of the pack sniffing and looking around just fifty meters in the distance. After taking one last look to make sure the soldiers were exactly where he wanted them to be, Luke tapped one of the empty trailers with the tip of his bow. The sound he made was relatively quiet, but the closest hunter heard the noise and jerked his head in Luke’s direction until his eyes picked out the man behind Luke, slowly stepping back into the shadows created by the trailers.

  The monster gave a guttural roar that signaled the presence of food to his pack-mates as he charged the obviously trapped prey. The sound died in the flesh-eater’s throat as Luke’s first arrow passed through the beast’s face before skittering into a charred wreck a few meters away. The rest of the pack was closing now, but three more arrows flew in four seconds and suddenly only five of the beasts remained. Luke was fairly certain he could kill all of these hunters with his bow alone, but arrows could be hard to come by, and the axe tended to make a terrifying impression on those who saw the young captain employ it in combat for the first time.

  Luke considered the position of the soldier behind him and decided that not being viewed as prey had some serious drawbacks. He didn’t like using someone else as bait, and he actually missed the ability to taunt and infuriate his adversaries. He stifled a growl and threw the trench axe at the leading hunter with such power that the creature’s head literally seemed to explode into the faces of the following beasts. Next, Luke drew two short folding knives, one in each hand, and expertly flung them in unison. Each pierced an eye of an attacking hunter, and the two flesh-eaters dropped to the ground. The remaining two creatures seemed to hesitate, and Luke turned to the stunned young man behind him. “Mind if I borrow this for a moment?” he asked rhetorically, gently removing the halberd from the speechless soldier’s hands. Luke took two steps forward, turned sideways, and swung the newly acquired weapon in a graceful arc that cleanly decapitated the closest hunter. The final monster turned to run, but Luke leapt forward and grabbed it by its hair. He pulled its face into a crushing blow from his knee that sent dozens of shar
ds from broken facial bones into its brain, killing it before it struck the ground.

  With the entire pack down, Luke calmly walked to the edge of the trailers and retrieved his axe. Then he returned to the pile of dead and dying hunters to doubly finish them off, one by one, with efficient strokes that easily cleaved skulls in half. Following one last look to make sure each and every flesh-eater was dead, Luke looked up at the men on top of the semis and waved his fingers in a flippant gesture calculated to bring them down while showing that he was completely unruffled by the savage fight he’d just won against nine prime hunters.

  The three men had all taken part in what were essentially exterminations outside of liberated settlements, but none of them had ever seen an individual take on a group of flesh-eaters and actually survive. In this case, Luke hadn’t simply survived; he’d basically exploded in an orgy of violence that had shredded an entire pack in less than a minute of action. The soldiers were shaken and speechless, but Luke knew they’d find their voices long before returning to camp. By sunset, every recruit would know that their enigmatic commander, the young man who wore mirrored motorcycle glasses at all hours of the day and night, was nothing less than a super-hero.

  CHAPTER 8

  As Luke had predicted, every soldier in their small army had heard of his exploits by the time the evening meal was finished. He had now single-handedly killed a pack of twenty hunters with nothing more than a knife and his fists, but he wasn’t concerned about exaggeration this time around; he wanted his troops to know what he was capable of. He also wanted to give them a sense of confidence and hope; a gift that he hoped would last beyond the coming battle. He had been able to control the circumstances of every fight he’d ordered his soldiers to take part in up to this point in their development, and the thought of any of them being hurt or killed during these orchestrated, small-scale skirmishes had never really entered his mind. Now, they were going to try to take over an army base five miles from the river, and he knew he was going to have to order some of these young, trusting rookies into harm’s way. The knowledge troubled him, though he had always known this day would come. The only condition he’d placed upon himself before having to make such decisions was that each and every soul under his command would know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that their leader would ask nothing of them he hadn’t already faced himself.