Transformation: Zombie Crusade VI

by Vohs, J. W.

  Also as predicted, Gracie wasn’t happy with his ostentatious display of combat skills against an entire pack of prime hunters. “Everybody knows you’re the most lethal warrior on the planet, Luke, you shouldn’t have put yourself or those newbies in danger like that.”

  Zach accepted Luke’s behavior with a shrug that indicated his unconcerned agreement with his buddy’s choice, but Maddy was angry that part of her company had been taken into a combat situation without her being a part of the operation. “Look, you’re the one who’s been teaching us about chain of command and establishing authority over the troops. Don’t you see that it cuts both ways? How do you think I look to my squad leaders when I come back from a humanitarian mission and learn that half of my company was outside the stakes?”

  Luke managed to appear apologetic. “Maddy, you’re right, and I’m sorry; it won’t happen again.” He turned to his wife, “Gracie, it’s one thing for the recruits to see me in training, or hear about things that happened before they met me, but for their own sakes, I think it’s important that they all know, for sure, that I’ll never give them an order that I wouldn’t, or couldn’t do myself. It seems to me that would be the first lesson of leadership 101.” He paused a few beats for emphasis, “And baby, it won’t be the last time I end up in situations like that. Yeah, I command an army now, but there’ll still be circumstances where I’m the only one with the instincts and skill to get the job done without people getting killed.”

  Gracie looked far from satisfied with Luke’s explanation, but they both knew that he spoke the truth. Finally, she stepped to him and held him close for a moment before moving back a pace. “So, did you learn anything while you were out there?”

  Luke nodded and made eye contact with Zach, then Maddy. “Watkins may have exaggerated numbers, or maybe not, but the situation seems to be what he said it was. There were survivors in town trying to signal us with mirrors, the roads are as bad as we’ve ever seen, and there are definitely plenty of hunters prowling around the depot. We need to figure out how to conduct clearing operations without getting a bunch of our people killed.”

  “What’s the terrain like near the base?” Zach asked. “Rivers, creeks, hills?”

  “I didn’t see high ground that struck me as anything special, and there’s no major water over there.”

  “These folks have never fought without a line of retreat available,” Maddy observed.

  “Might have to this time,” Luke explained. “It’s gonna happen sooner or later anyway.”

  “Maybe not yet,” Gracie offered.

  “What are you thinking about, babe?”

  She was still miffed about Luke fighting nine hunters by himself, so she didn’t mind sounding snarky. “Since when do you care about what I think?”

  Luke sighed, “Really? Aren’t you the girl who figured out how to build the wall that saved Vicksburg?”

  “Uh, yeah, I am . . . too bad Jack or somebody else like him isn’t around to actually care about my ideas and opinions.”

  Zach abruptly stood up. “I hear nature calling—feel free to continue the conversation without me.”

  As Zach sprinted away, Maddy yelled after him, “Coward!” She then turned to Luke and Gracie. “I’m gonna go try to convince my squad leaders that I’m not a lame-duck company commander after what happened today. You two can bicker without an audience.”

  The newlyweds watched their friends disappear into the gloom before resuming their disagreement. Luke decided to strike first. “I hold every life here in my hands, but I’m learning on the job just like our recruits; I made a decision I thought was best, in the long run, for everyone. I wasn’t trying to disappoint you or disregard your concerns for my well-being. You keep telling me that I was born to lead, but it sure seems like you don’t trust my judgment.”

  Gracie was quiet for a minute, then sighed in resignation. “You really know how to take the fun out of a fight. You do realize it’s my job now to worry about you?”

  Luke smiled. “Wouldn’t want it any other way, and I don’t want to fight with you.”

  “I don’t want to fight with you either, but since we sorta already started fighting, maybe we can spend some time officially making up later.”

  Luke grinned and wrapped his arms around Gracie. “Maybe I should be inconsiderate more often.”

  She laid her head on Luke’s chest. “Did I ever tell you that you were my first serious boyfriend?”

  “About a hundred times.”

  “Baloney! Maybe a dozen, tops.”

  “So what are you trying to say?”

  “That I love you, more than I can describe, and I’m a newlywed at seventeen, and you’re all I have in the world, and I can’t help but be worried, even if you have a good reason to put yourself in danger like you did today.”

  Luke ran his fingers through her hair. “You know that I’m not really in danger anymore, right?”

  Gracie frowned and pulled away from her husband. “I’m pretty sure you can survive another bite, but I can’t be a hundred percent certain. Plus, there are a lot of ways to get killed these days. Your blood won’t save you from a broken neck, or being mobbed and crushed.”

  Luke reached out and took Gracie’s hand. “Come on; I want to show you something.” He handed her a pair of NVGs. “Put these on, armor up and grab your weapons too.”

  Gracie squinted at Luke, but she didn’t question whatever he had in mind. She followed his instructions and let him lead her through the defenses and across a relatively open field that never took them far from the river. After five minutes, Luke peered about and seemed satisfied with whatever he was looking for. He handed Gracie his bow. “How far can you see with your optics?”

  “I can see that tree-line to the west; I suppose that’s several hundred meters away.”

  Luke was looking in that direction as well. “Actually closer to two-fifty, but depth perception sucks with these NVGs.”

  Gracie was unimpressed. “What’s your point?”

  Luke didn’t say a word; he just took off at a dead sprint toward the trees.

  Gracie followed him with her eyes, confused at first about what he was doing, then simply wondering how in the world he was running so fast. Luke reached the woods and turned around, covering the uneven ground effortlessly and with inhuman speed. When he returned to her side his breathing was even, and his expression serious. “How long was I gone?”

  Gracie stuttered. “Uh, I uh, I wasn’t keeping count . . . maybe twenty seconds?”

  Luke nodded. “Probably closer to thirty, but it doesn’t matter. I just covered five hundred meters, at night, over unfamiliar ground, in half the time an Olympic athlete could do it on a track in perfect conditions.”

  Gracie’s eyes grew wide, “Are you sure about that?”

  “You saw for yourself, and that’s just the beginning. Try to draw that longbow.”

  Gracie had never been very accurate with Luke’s bow, but she’d used it enough to know that the one she held in her hands was new, and greatly modified. She was only able to pull it back about eight inches. “What the hell? What’s the draw-weight on this thing?”

  Luke could only shrug. “I’m not even sure, something over two hundred pounds; I can pull it back all day long and not even get sore.”

  “Is that normal?”

  Luke pursed his lips, silent for a moment as he considered the question. “Everything I’ve read about medieval English and Welsh long-bowmen says that their draw-weights were usually over a hundred pounds, but I know that every pound above that became exponentially harder to draw. I’m guessing that none of them could have pulled this bow all the way back.”

  “So, far from normal,” Gracie quietly observed. “Whatever normal is.”

  “This morning I sent an arrow through a huge hunter’s face, and it passed through the back of the skull and flew away like it hadn’t hit a thing. I didn’t strike an eye-socket; that arrow broke through the front and back of solid bon
e like it was cardboard or something.”

  “And your axe?”

  Luke shook his head slightly. “I threw it today, just for the heck of it, and the hunter’s head literally exploded from its torso. I killed five of those hunters with a folding knife and my bare hands; I didn’t really need the knife, and the fight wasn’t even close.”

  Gracie was subdued when she pointed out Luke’s other advantage. “It’s not really a fight if they don’t attack you, babe. How did you get those hunters today to come after you?”

  Luke stared at the ground. “I, uh, had two men on top of semi-trailers above me, and another one on the ground, behind my back. I assume the hunters kept coming for those guys.“

  “You used our rookie-troops for bait so you could prove what a bad-ass you are?”

  Gracie had a look of disbelief on her face, but Luke knew that expression could flip to one of fury if he didn’t satisfactorily answer the question. Of course, he’d already explained why he needed to fight the creatures in front of the new recruits; he decided to not try using that excuse again.

  What he did do, was try a different tactic. This one came right out of Gracie’s playbook. “Do you believe those men were in any danger?”

  “That is not an answer!”

  “Your question was rhetorical.”

  Gracie’s eyes, which had been merely simmering for a few minutes, flared with anger once again. “No! It wasn’t a rhetorical question! So give me an answer; do you believe it was okay to use our men as bait?”

  “Yeah, Gracie, I believe it was.”

  Her anger seemed to drop several degrees. “Why?”

  “I interviewed every one of our soldiers, just like you did. I care about every one of them, just like you do. But someday, we might have to order them to make a diversionary attack, or stand and fight to the last so others can retreat. At least today I knew they weren’t in any real danger, and I’m pretty sure you know it too.”

  Gracie nodded, a bit of sadness in her gaze as she quietly explained, “That’s all I wanted to hear, Luke. There’s nobody out here to train any of us on how to be officers and leaders, so we have to teach one another.”

  “You’re right. And Gracie, I’d give anything to just have the hunters attacking me like they used to do.”

  “Luke, think about it. It’s another tactical advantage for us. You could walk right into the middle of a horde, set up a bomb, and walk right out again. I get that you’re super strong, and you run like the wind. I know that you only sleep about three hours a night.” She started to tear up. “What I don’t know is how you’re going to feel about me if you keep turning into Superman and I’m just boring old Gracie.”

  “Hey,” Luke gently protested, “I’m just a physically improved version of my old self. I’m still the same clueless idiot I’ve always been—at least when it comes to being a considerate husband.” He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. “You’re the light in my life, baby. Physically I’m a bit super-human, but psychologically, emotionally, I’m still the same guy you fell in love with. And I can guarantee that I need you now more than I ever did before.”

  Luke pulled back a few inches so he could gaze into Gracie’s moonlit eyes. “Honey, I’m figuring a lot of things out as we travel west, but you’re close to my heart every second of every day. We’re building something new out here, different from anything Jack and Carlson have created. And we’re gonna need this army of ours, soon. I know something big is out there, or will be very soon. Something bigger and badder than anything we’ve seen so far, even at Vicksburg.”

  A chill ran down Gracie’s spine, and she shivered. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared, but I know I can face anything with you by my side.”

  “The same goes for me,” Luke whispered.

  It had been many days since the hunter’s last meal, but even the sound of Food—of Humans—did not excite him. His most recent kills played over and over in his mind, but the memories were irritating rather than satisfying. His first target had been dispatched easily, and he’d sated his hunger before tracking the smaller Human who’d run squealing from the campsite. The hunter had kept a keen watch for the return of the larger one, the one who carried danger, but there had been no sign of him since he’d wandered away from the others. The lone hunter had no desire to pursue danger, so he’d decided to follow the trail of the small one.

  The Human was easy to follow as it left a strong scent of urine in its tracks. His tracks. At first, the trail had led toward the river, but then it doubled back haphazardly. The hunter quickly located his target, tucked into the crook of a tree, chest height from the ground. The Human had made strange, high pitched noises and weakly tossed a few small rocks at his pursuer. The hunter had been momentarily distracted by the sound of a motor nearby, but it was a puny rumble, nothing like the machine-birds, so he’d ignored it as it faded into the distance.

  He’d lunged forward and snatched the Human from the tree by his throat. At that second, the hunter’s mind had flashed back to his first kill of the night when a strange sensation had overwhelmed him, and, for an instant, there’d been a deafening buzz in his mind, and his body had been painfully paralyzed. Only for an instant, then he’d sunk his teeth into the soft flesh of his prey and thoroughly enjoyed his meal.

  As the hunter dangled the smaller Human before him, he’d felt apprehensive, worried that the earlier incident was about to be repeated. For several minutes, he’d just stared at his scrawny, jibbering prey, not feeling the compulsion to feed on this urine-soaked weakling. Finally, he’d roared in frustration and ripped off the Human’s head. He’d taken a few bites from the soft midsection, but this kill had not held his interest.

  He’d made himself a nest close to the river and slept, but when he awoke he felt weak and dizzy. He slipped down to the water’s edge for a long drink; the only clear thoughts in his head were memories of his last two kills. With no hunger to drive him back to the hunt, he quietly stepped back to the nest and crawled into the leaves and moss. In the darkness, he struggled to slow his spinning thoughts. He struggled in vain, until finally, he slipped into a deep slumber for the rest of the night.

  At breakfast, Gracie finally explained her idea for clearing the area of infected. “We go old school, the Jack Smith Castle method.”

  Luke and Gracie had been stuck near Cleveland when the Battle of the Castle took place in northern Indiana shortly after the outbreak began, but everyone who knew anyone in the Hoosier settlement had heard the story of that bloody fight. Maddy and Zach had fought there, and they looked at Gracie as if she’d lost her mind. Maddy was the first to speak.

  “First of all, we don’t have a giant fort to defend. Secondly, we don’t have fire-trucks, high explosives, or catapults. Thirdly, that plan had some serious flaws that almost got us all killed; plenty of people died as it was.”

  “And again,” Zach added, “we don’t have a giant castle.”

  Gracie just shrugged and impatiently waited for the objections to subside. “Our troops can create a fort in an hour that will stop thousands of hunters long enough to kill them.”

  Maddy snorted. “You know we got pushed off our wall during the battle and had to hide in hardened buildings all night, right?”

  Gracie was undeterred. “We dig a ditch, plant stakes, and keep the river at our backs in case we need to retreat in a hurry.”

  Zach shook his head. “The hunters are miles to the south of here, and Luke said there’s no big water near the depot.”

  “Wow,” Gracie sighed with exasperation, “you guys are really slow on the uptake sometimes. The last time I had to sit through another telling of the story of the Battle of the Castle, I seem to recall that the infected were deliberately drawn to the location with sirens.” She looked at Maddy, “In fact, I believe you just mentioned how we don’t have fire trucks; I wonder, are fire trucks the only vehicles that can make loud noises?”

  Nobody spoke for several seconds, until Mad
dy broke the silence with a brutal observation. “We are idiots.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Zach suggested.

  “No,” Luke interrupted. “She’s right; we don’t have to fight on their terms, we can bring the creatures to us.”

  Gracie had been thinking about this for a while, and she had a basic plan to get everyone started. “Set the two infantry companies to digging and planting tomorrow morning, and I’ll lead my scouts out searching for police cars or something. Actually, any cars that can honk really loud should work just fine. Luke, I know you said the road would need a lot of work to be passible—do you think we can clear a path without attracting to much unwanted attention?”

  Luke pictured the highway in his mind. “We’ll only need to open up a single lane, so I’m sure it’s manageable.”

  “So what do you think of the plan overall?” Gracie asked.

  Luke didn’t like Gracie’s role in such a dangerous operation, but he realized he was being hypocritical. She was more than competent, and he trusted her judgment completely. “It’s a damn good plan, babe. Maddy, you and Zach build us a castle; don’t forget about that razor wire in the johnboat, string it between the stakes as much as possible. Gracie, you’re in charge of finding a vehicle with a siren and getting it up and running; you have any mechanics in your unit?”

  “Yeah, I have several guys who claim they can fix anything; one of them is a certified diesel mechanic.”

  “That’s good,” Luke said, trying not to sound worried. “I’ll round up some muscle to clear the road; we’ll stick close by your scouting team so if you have any trouble we’ll be able to help out.”