by Vohs, J. W.
“Oh, sure,” Zach quickly concurred, “I actually tried to tell Maddy that we need to practice moving into and out of a laager until we can do it in our sleep; it will save lives someday.”
Maddy was standing in front of the gathering sergeants and officers along with Zach. She looked at him with a dumbfounded expression. “Really? You told me that?” She turned around and presented her backside to the group. “You guys see the tire tracks from where jackass here throws me under the bus after he takes credit for my ideas?”
With over two hundred troops available to toil on the modifications in twelve-hour shifts, the bulk of the labor was completed in eight days. Several massive flatbed trailers were found to transport two armored bulldozers and a backhoe. Four tanker-trucks, capable of ferrying thousands of gallons of diesel, would also be part of the convoy. Each of the support-vehicles pulled a powerful generator. An intelligence-gathering, camper-type of trailer mounted on a five-ton chassis had been re-fitted to serve as a rolling-headquarters. Last, but far from least, four semis had been filled with enough uniforms, weapons, and other supplies to quadruple the existing size of the army. Finally, more than enough paint had been available to coat every piece of rolling equipment flat-black. Everyone was in agreement that the convoy looked quite intimidating. Then the training began.
Luke made appearances throughout the training days, but by and large he trusted his company commanders to whip the troops into shape. Many of Luke’s afternoons were spent pouring over maps and books about military strategies, and he disappeared for hours each morning for what he called his personal training and scouting exercises. He was sleeping more than usual at night, but he wasn’t experiencing any dreams that he could remember.
Will had returned to their meeting place on the second day, accompanied by another huge alpha and a dozen smaller hunters. None of the creatures appeared to be at Will’s level of development, but all of them were attracted to and frightened by Luke. The other alpha and one small female were capable of basic communication with Luke, and he could get a sense of them beyond what they were able to express. They were not haunted by memories of past lives, but they were regaining some uniquely human characteristics, including rudimentary speech. The alpha, in particular, was seeking meaningful companionship with his own kind, and he had a deep-seated aversion to the machine-birds. His disturbing memories revolved around being trapped and controlled—and the pain of resistance. He had asserted his autonomy and broken away from a hive, and while he was not yet able to articulate it, he harbored a burning desire to destroy the forces that enslaved his brothers and sisters. He had labeled himself with the first word that held meaning for him: Free.
Luke was fascinated by all the hunters, but his bond with Will was something different. Luke couldn’t explain the connection—how Will’s dreams and memories ended up in his head, or how Will’s emerging awareness was accelerated by their interactions. Through Will, Luke had become the Strong One in the minds of the other hunters, and through Will, Luke danced on the edge of an evolving collective consciousness.
Jack and Carter had been spending many of their free hours following Luke and Gracie’s visit discussing plans for the Red River Depot. Two days after the young warriors had left Vicksburg, Carter was explaining his latest concern over breakfast in his mom’s kitchen. “I’m tellin’ ya, there ain’t no way to defend that entire base against any kind of serious attack. There’s still gotta be infected runnin’ around the place, and even if Luke had somehow managed to kill ‘em all, ya know as well as I do that the fences ‘round most Army bases couldn’t stop a Boy Scout with a crappy pair of wire-cutters.”
Jack nodded a wordless concession to the point as Carter continued. “Ain’t no fixed defenses work against these critters ‘cept the wall Gracie came up with for the bridge here. Hell, even our Castle couldn’t stop ten thousand zombies; imagine what that many hunters woulda done to us.”
“The Castle did what it was intended to do,” Jack pointed out, “we could only prepare for what we knew. We didn’t see anything other than newly-infected in Afghanistan.”
“Oh, I ain’t complainin’ ‘bout what we did with the Castle; we’d of all been long-dead if it weren’t fer that place. I’m just sayin’ that if somethin’ like the Castle can’t keep these hunters out, that rickety ‘ol fence around the Depot sure won’t stop ‘em. We can’t hold it forever—it’s too damn big.”
“So what do you want to do?”
Carter already looked victorious. “We scavenge that place fer everythin’ we can move, and bring it all back here.”
“Everything?”
“Yep. I know it’ll take a long damn time, but John and Tina can oversee the operation, and we can keep chasin’ Barnes.”
Jack scratched his chin. “I’d definitely want those Foxes and dozers brought over here as soon as possible.”
“Oh hell yeah,” Carter enthusiastically promised. “We’ll prioritize all the vehicles on base. We can share ‘em with the Louisiana boys too.”
“You have any idea where we’ll store all that stuff here? We sure as hell can’t park all those vehicles on the bridges.”
“We don’t want it all here in Vicksburg proper,” Carter explained, “make too temptin’ a target for our ‘ol buddy. We’ll create motor pools up and down the river. We can use barges to move a lot of stuff, and make sure most of the assembly areas are close to major highways.”
Jack seriously considered the idea. “Well, I’m sure your plan will end up being a heck of a lot more complicated than you make it sound, but John and Tina are pretty damn competent officers.”
“Listen,” Carter conceded, “we’ll spend some weeks over there too, but when the snow finally melts off we’ll go prowlin’ around for Barnes. We can take advantage of everythin’ the depot has and continue huntin’ the bastard down. If we can’t use our ‘ol Ranger skills to sneak in an’ kill his ass, we’ll lure him somewhere close to a railhead and pull our army together right quick. How’s that fer a plan?”
“I have to admit, it’s not a bad idea.” Jack looked sideways at his closest and oldest friend. “But if you cost us the depot, I swear I’ll beat you to a pulp again.”
Carter laughed uproariously. “There ain’t never been a first time, Professor Smith!”
Once everything was loaded and ready to move, Luke called for a council with company and platoon commanders in the toasty headquarters building. He thought about how Jack handled these sorts of briefings, and he tried to emulate his father. “I’ve been going over local maps lately, and everything I’ve seen confirms our initial plan: follow the Red River until Lake Texoma. Now, near as I can tell, that’s about a hundred and fifty miles by road, and maybe double that on the water. Lieutenants Kinstler and Johnson are each going to assign two squads to me, and I’ll take the river route with those troops. Everyone else will be with the convoy. Questions?”
One of the platoon leaders raised his hand. “Captain, when will we receive the radios we’ve been hearing about?”
“You’ll have your radios before we leave here tonight, enough for every squad to have three,” Luke replied. “Platoon and company commanders will have larger units, capable of contacting the others at more than fifty miles out. This is a big deal for us; make sure everybody takes care of those radios.”
Another leader had a question. “What’s the plan after we reach the lake?”
“Based on what we’ve found so far, I expect that there will be a lot of small communities around that lake. The surface area is almost ninety-thousand acres. We’ll check in with the settlements, just like we did along the river.”
“How many more soldiers are we looking to recruit?”
Luke pursed his lips as he considered the question he’d asked himself many times. “I’d like to have a thousand elite fighters in our army. That’s just a ballpark-figure, but that number should be able to defend against the hordes we fought back east if our defenses are strong enough.”
“Are they strong enough for that, sir?”
Luke thought about all of the angle-iron, armor-piercing-ammo resistant mesh and cages, Kevlar-reinforced siding on the vehicles, and the expert welds laid down by the thousands over the past week. “I’m not gonna try to tell you that it wouldn’t be scary as hell, but yeah, I think that we could defeat five to ten times our number fighting inside our laager. The screens will hold.”
A few of the soldiers quietly whistled appreciation of their commander’s assessment of their new capabilities. Standing next to his squad leader, Terry felt compelled to share his higher-level math skills. “So, if we have a thousand fighters, that means we could beat an army of hunters fifty to a hundred thousand strong. . .”
“Those Texas public school teachers would sure be proud of you,” Zach cracked in a friendly manner.
Amid the laughter, Terry protested. “Hey, I’m from Louisiana!”
That made everyone laugh even harder. Finally, Luke raised his hand for silence. Jack always reminded his leaders of their successes and tried to build up their confidence; Luke wanted to do the same thing. “Guys, we will have to fight like the vicious killers we are, forts or no forts, but make no mistake, we will now be the most lethal force on the planet.” This statement inspired shouts and applause, so Luke waited for several seconds before he continued. “A few of the hunters have learned to respect man, or at least retreat when they realize attacking some humans is suicide. I believe, that within a few months, thousands of the bastards will run in the opposite direction any time they see us on the horizon.”
Again the commanders cheered. When they finally quieted, Luke kept going. “For almost eight months now, General Barnes has gone where he wanted to, whenever he wanted to. He’s terrorized half the continent, and threatened the other. Those days are at an end, at least when we come riding over the hill.”
After a chorus of “Damn right, and hell yeah,” died down, Luke summarized the plan. “We’re going to recruit through the Texoma region, and then we’ll leave the water behind and head for Utah on the state highways with our vehicles. Most of the rumors you’ve heard about the place are true: they still have modern civilization. Electric power, medical facilities, food storage and production, and maybe even the most organized, disciplined army on earth. The heart of Utah territory has all of those things. General Carlson has my complete trust and respect, and I’m hoping he’ll approve of our new model of fighting. He can really help us grow our forces; he’s got tens of thousands of outstanding infantry soldiers. Plus, even with all their resources, they’re gonna need our help if and when Barnes decides to show up.”
“I was pleasantly surprised that you joined me for my morning swim today, Miss Carrell,” Barnes nearly purred as he stood gazing out the dining room windows. “But you barely said a word—you just swam laps like an Olympian in training and then disappeared back to your room for the rest of the day. Perhaps you were trying to impress me? I wouldn’t have pegged you as such a strong swimmer. In any event, I’m glad that you could join me for dinner this evening.” Barnes seemed to be in an unusually good mood.
Andi had gotten up for an early swim with Barnes on the off chance that she might be presented with an opportunity to drown him. She knew it was a long shot since he’d said he was an excellent swimmer and he always had guards lurking nearby. Still, she so enjoyed the fantasy of cracking him over the head with an umbrella stand and tossing his body in the pool that she’d decided she had nothing to lose by showing up to take a dip at 5:30. Not surprisingly, the water had been cold, and Barnes was well-guarded, so she’d had no reason to linger.
“I was told that you’d summoned me, and I’m actually rather hungry,” Andi said as she took a seat at the table behind Barnes. She hated to see him in such good spirits—that usually meant disaster for people he considered to be his enemies.
Barnes sat down and poured them both a glass of champagne. “We’re celebrating tonight, my dear. We’ve reached one of my milestones ahead of schedule.”
Andi knew that Barnes wanted her to ask him for the details, and she was usually averse to giving him what he wanted, but in this case she had her own reasons to go fishing. “What milestone is that?”
“One million infected—or hunters as you call them—securely contained and just waiting for my orders, and another million well on the way.” Barnes eyed Andi with satisfaction. “Can you even imagine what a million hunters, all attacking in unison, will look like?”
“Probably not,” she admitted casually, “but I wonder if you can imagine the number of humans it will take for you to maintain control of those million hunters.”
“You needn’t be concerned, dear. I’ve never been short on imagination, and as commander in chief of the military forces of the United States, I don’t lack manpower for anything.”
Andi cocked her head and looked at Barnes quizzically. “What United States? You really must have a vivid imagination if you think that any semblance of a united America remains.”
“You have no idea how far my influence extends or what resources I have at my disposal. And as president, I represent hope and security to every surviving peon from here to the Atlantic. You should see how they fall all over themselves for the chance to enlist with my men.”
Andi laughed bitterly. “Only because they don’t know what they’d be getting into—”
Barnes interrupted, “Don’t be naïve—it’s so unattractive. You know history; you know that people are attracted to power. They want a strong leader so they don’t have to think. My soldiers, the human ones, are incredibly loyal.”
“You inspire fear, not loyalty.”
It was Barnes turn to laugh. “Ultimately, what’s the difference?” He raised his glass. “Let’s toast to loyalty. Oh, and especially to my loyal operatives in Utah—it’s so nice to have up-to-date intelligence about the settlements, training facilities, and ever-expanding outposts—but I especially enjoyed the emergency evacuation protocol for the entire territory.”
Morning came all too quickly for the temporary inhabitants of the depot; a cold, clear dawn greeted the army as most of the soldiers warmed up their engines while a few transported supplies and gear down to the river bank a few miles away. The convoy was an impressive sight in the frigid sunlight: over a hundred military Hummers and trucks with trailers attached. Luke knew that the formation was rather hollow, with only one or two people in each vehicle, but he also knew that the emptiness offered room for his force to grow. An hour after dawn, right on time, Zach’s voice came over the radio and told him they were ready to roll. Luke took one last look at their new creation, his heart filled with a fierce pride at what his troops had accomplished. Tina, John, and the forces from Vicksburg would arrive in a few days to continue the salvage operation. With one last look at the depot, Luke gave the order everyone was waiting for, “Move out!”
Fifteen minutes later, the small contingent assigned to the river broke off from the convoy and clamored into the waiting boats. Not too long after that, Luke remembered why he was sick and tired of travelling by water as the first of many icy sprays splashed over the gunwale and into his face. The small fleet had travelled hundreds of river miles, and it had always been easy to become frustrated with the pace and the exposure. Before reaching the Red River Depot and finding the treasures the base held, no realistic alternative to the canoes and small boats had been considered as the growing army made its way west. Now, every soldier on the water knew they could be sitting in a heated cab with adjustable seats, listening to music and nibbling on snacks as they slowly cruised down the highway.
Gracie spoke what Luke was thinking. “The natives are restless this morning.”
He looked back to where she was piloting the small motor in the rear of the boat and shrugged. “The people on the river feel like they’re getting screwed, and their friends in the convoy are gonna tell ‘em as much around the campfires tonight.”
Gracie smiled and pulled up
her hood. “I’ll try not to complain too much.”
“I’d rather be with the convoy too,” Luke admitted.
“Actually, I think I prefer being out here on the water. I love feeling so connected with nature.”
“Land is natural too, you know.” Luke tossed Gracie a bottled water. “Here’s some more liquid nature for you.”
Gracie caught the bottle in one hand. “Think about it. Do you know how many times trying to hold onto the old world has almost gotten me killed? There’s no way, with an engine running and the windows rolled up, that I’m as in tune with what’s going on around me as I am right now. I feel a lot safer out here.”
Her logic was irrefutable; Luke wondered why he hadn’t thought about the situation in that way. “You’re right—remind me about that if I start complaining.”
Gracie nodded. “I’m just worried that our soldiers will think they’re untouchable in those vehicles. You and I have actually seen what a hundred thousand hunters look like. We know better than they do not to take our safety for granted or let down our guard.”
“We’ll just have to trust that Zach and Maddy can keep everybody on their toes.”
By the end of the first day of travel, the difficulties of following the roads were evident to everyone who’d been subjected to the twelve hours of removing wreckage and slogging through mushy detours. The usual accordion effect had frustrated all of the drivers, most of whom felt as if the entire day was spent either speeding to catch up with the column, or sitting at a dead stop with nothing to do but wait and wonder. Packs struck the convoy twice. No human was injured, while all but two of the flesh-eaters were killed with spears wielded from firing ports. The final two hunters had seemed to coordinate an attack on the cab of a tanker truck, one on each side of the vehicle, each rattling the handle of a locked door. It took a barrage of over two dozen arrows to drop the creatures to the ground, where they were purposely and repeatedly run over by the rest of the convoy.
