by Kempf, Shaun
Captain Perret didn’t immediately respond. He took a couple of steps away towards one of the nearby offices. He looked through the doorway. “Anyone know where the nearest subway entrance would be?”
The silence that followed answered the question. The captain turned back to the team and stared hard at each individual. He stepped back towards everyone.
“We can’t risk heading off into the city in the wrong direction. We’ll have to find our way down into the sewer system and hope that we can find a tunnel large enough to take us the whole way. First things first, we’ll need to find a sewer cover. Lucky for us this building has a street on both sides, so hopefully, there’ll be one close.”
“There should be a connection from this building to the sewer system. We could check the basement for that connection and not even have to go outside,” suggested Twitch.
“True, but it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to fit through that pipe, especially Gatlin,” said Captain Perret.
“All right, you heard the Captain. Gatlin, Annie, and Twitch you take the North side of the building. The rest of us will check the South side. Radio in when you find one,” Ben barked the orders and the team quickly headed off in the direction they were instructed. Captain Perret stayed behind to consult the map he pulled out of his pocket.
NINE
Ben and his group found themselves back by the crashed plane. They decided to start at one corner of the building and work their way to the other end. They worked their way down the hallway and entered a corner office.
Once they reached the center of the office they all stopped. It wasn’t because of the office they found themselves in, which was extremely nice. It had a beautiful oak desk with a high-quality leather chair behind it, an amazing oil painting of a sailboat on troubled waters and shelves filled with books, binders, pictures and a few awards. These things went un-noticed by the group. What stopped them in their tracks was the view out the window.
They had a view of Bryant park which was packed full of infected people. There wasn’t room between any two infected to move freely. Many of them were bumping shoulders as they moved about in and apart in random ways. It reminded Ben of an anthill after being disturbed. Like an ant hill there was constant movement and so many of them it was difficult to follow just one. Unlike the ant hill, they moved much more slowly and without any apparent purpose.
“Damn,” was all Annie could say.
Although they had flown over the city on their way here and had seen the infected crowded in the streets, it seemed different to see them now that they were on the ground and so close.
“There’s so many,” said Standing Bear.
“It was a big city,” offered Ben.
“Yeah, but,” Standing Bear’s thought trails off for a moment. “I guess I never made the connection of how many people were lost to the infection here even though we heard that the city had been lost.”
Ben had to admit that he felt the same way. Hearing that the city of New York had been lost was devastating news, but just how bad it was, didn’t hit him until this moment when he could see the number of infected walking just outside down in the park. They had seen some pretty large hordes since the outbreak and had even almost gotten trapped by one that they hadn’t noticed until it was almost too late, but the number of infected just beyond the windows was hard to comprehend.
“If we get trapped out there trying to get to the sewer, there’s no way we’ll have enough ammunition to save our asses,” Annie says flatly.
“That’s probably why the efforts to reclaim the city were abandoned. It wasn’t worth the resources lost,” Ben said.
“But it was worth it to send us out here to find a plane full of infected suits?” Standing Bear said.
“Now’s not the time, Bear,” said Ben.
“I got to agree with Bear on this one, Lieutenant. It doesn’t make sense. There’s so many infected here. How did they think those men would have survived?”
“Fine, I won’t disagree with you. Whoever was on that plane must have been very important, otherwise, they wouldn’t have sent us,” Ben glanced at the plane. Perhaps it was more than just who was on that plane. It probably also had something to do with what was on that plane and that something was what the captain grabbed. However, Ben didn’t want to start to speculate as to what it had been that Captain Perret had grabbed and stuffed into his bag.
“So, who was on the plane?” asked Standing Bear.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t told,” Ben replied.
“They should have told you,” Annie said as she finally moved forward towards the window.
Again, Ben didn’t feel he could argue that point. He also approached the window and looked down trying to spot a manhole cover underneath the feet of the wandering infected below. As he searched the ground he wondered if he had become complacent since they joined the army. When his team had been out in the field, alone, without the army’s help he had been looked to, to make all the decisions. It was draining and stressful. Each life that had been lost because of a decision that he had made weighed on him, even now. Since joining the army he hadn’t had to make as many decisions. Sure he was still in charge when they were out in the Infected Zones, but the danger was less. They had back-up either in manpower or in artillery. Plus, he didn’t have to decide where they were going to go next, how to get there, where supplies were going to come from and how he was going to keep his team safe each night.
It was for those reasons he started to think that, maybe, he was more than willingly to give up much of his decision making and just rely on the army to point him in the right direction. On the other hand, the army had a chain of command and he didn’t know if he had any power to question the orders that came down to him. He began to wonder if joining up had been the right decision for him and his team.
“I don’t see anything,” said Standing Bear.
“It’s hard to see the road beneath all the infected,” Annie stated.
“Let’s move to the next office,” Ben turned from the window and exited the office. Annie and Standing Bear followed him.
The next office they made their way into already started to show damage from the plane crashing into the building. One of the windows was broken and part of the wall next to the window was destroyed and papers were strewn all over the floor. Ben looked around and wondered what business had once called this home. It was hard now to think of life as it had been. Getting up, going to work, earning a paycheck; it all seemed like such a waste of time now. He should have done more with his life, but wasn’t that what he was doing now? Or was it the same thing just disguised as something more important?
“Lieutenant,” Annie was looking at him.
Even before they had joined the army his team had gotten into the habit of calling him Lieutenant. It was his nickname. It had started out as a joke when they compared him to a Lieutenant from a movie. He had come to wear the name with pride, but was enthralled when he earned the position after joining the army.
“Yeah,” Ben looked out the window and down to the crowded street below.
“I know that we aren’t supposed to speak poorly of our commanding officers,” Annie started.
“Everyone already knows I’m an asshole, Annie.”
Standing Bear huffed out a half laugh as he searched the streets. Annie gave a crooked smile, but shook her head.
“No, I know I don’t need to state the obvious. What I was going to say is that there is something odd with the Captain.”
“Something Odd?”
“He seems off. I can’t put my finger on it. But somethings not right. I know we haven’t been in the army for very long, but he just doesn’t seem to fit.”
“He’s got clean boots is all,” Ben glanced at her hoping she would drop it. He had a similar feeling, but they were in some deep crap here and need to focus on getting out of this city. He was already doing his best to fight off the feelings of being trapped.
“I gotta
agree with Annie. We’re not going to be stuck with him after this mission, are we?” asked Standing Bear.
“Let’s just got through this mission and then we can worry about those things,” Ben said.
It looked like both of them had more to say and were going to say it when Twitches voice came through the radio, “We’ve got one.”
They ran to the other side of the building. As they got closer to the North side of the building they could hear men’s voices shouting at one another. They found the rest of their team standing in an office near the window. Static was standing between Twitch and Captain Perret. He was trying to push Twitch away from the Captain. Ben raced forward.
“What the hell is going on here?” He demanded.
“Lieutenant, I suggest you get your men under control,” Captain Perret hissed at Ben.
“Twitch, what the fuck?” Ben helped Static push Twitch back. They were able to finally able to get him a few steps back and he stopped pushed against them, but he didn’t stop moving. He turned back and forth while opening and closing his hands.
“What happened?” asked Ben.
“As you heard we found a sewer cover,” answered Static. “Twitch was the one to see it. We were making plans on how best to get to it when the Captain arrived. He looked out the window and said that we’d be best to abandon this plan and think of something else.”
“He won’t even give it a chance!” said Twitch who finally stopped moving and looked directly at Ben. “He’s too fucking scared!” Twitch nearly shouted to ensure that the Captain would hear him.
“Twitch,” Ben started to say, but Twitch interrupted him.
“I know the odds aren’t in our favor, Lieutenant, but this is our best option. We’ve got to try.”
“What’s gotten into you? You know you’re not supposed to talk to a superior officer like that.”
“Superior,” Twitch scuffed.
“Twitch,” Ben grabbed him. “He’s leading this mission and as long as he’s in charge we will treat him with respect. If you don’t like what he’s got to say you come to me. Got it?”
Twitch looked away, out towards the window and set his jaw. Ben gave him a little shake.
“Got it.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re making us look bad and you’re the one that usually makes us look good.”
The joke worked. Twitch tried not to smile, but couldn’t help but smirk. Initially, when they were trying to come up with a nickname for him everyone wanted to call him Pretty Boy because he spent so much time trying to look good even when the team was stuck in the Infected Zone. Still, his preoccupation with his looks was still something everyone joked about, even Twitch himself.
“Sorry, Lieutenant.”
“All right. All right. Let me take a look and then talk to the Captain.”
Ben walked over to the window. Off to his left, he could see the still burning wreckage of the Blackhawk, which was spread across the street basically creating a roadblock. Ben thought again of the pilot that had been inside. He felt sorry that the man had lost his life in the crash, but was also thankful he had died rather than become one of the Infected. Ben had seen others become infected. He wasn’t sure if the infection process was painful, but it was lethal. Some of the victims that he had seen bitten would go into immediate shock with the understanding of what was about to happen to them. They would simply sit down where ever they were, their eyes would glaze over and they wouldn’t speak to anyone. Others would frantically beg the nearest individual to either save them, which was impossible, or kill them.
His team had made a pack early on that anyone who got bit, knowing the consequence, would take a bullet to prevent themselves from becoming one of the Infected. Ben had taken on that responsibility, but had to only do it twice since the outbreak. Not that he hadn’t lost in his group, but just hadn’t had the opportunity to save them the pain of being eaten alive, or turned. Whenever he thought about it, he was surprised it had been so few times, but thankful as well.
The Blackhawk laying across the road would actually work in their favor. It was now a natural roadblock preventing the Infected on the other side from coming further down the street. Maybe twenty feet from the wreckage Ben could see the manhole cover beneath the feet of the infected the still crawled the street below. Getting to the sewer would be a challenge. Hopefully, it was one that they could accomplish. Now he just had to convince the Captain.
TEN
Ben turned away from the window and walked over to where the Captain was standing inspecting his map. As Ben approached the Captain put the map away.
“What’s your assessment, Lieutenant?” asked Captain Perret.
“Twitch was right, Sir. It can be done.”
“I never actually said it couldn’t. I only suggested that we may want to consider other options. You saw how many of the infected were down there,” Captain Perret shift his stance.
“I don’t know if we have any other options,” Ben looked toward the window and then back at the captain. “Captain, this is what we do. We’ve been in tight situations before and we always find a way to accomplish our goal otherwise we wouldn’t be standing here today. You’re going to have to put a little trust in us.”
“I have full trust in this team, Lieutenant. I’ve seen your file.”
“Then, what’s the issue Captain?” Ben asked.
Captain Perret didn’t answer, but he did glance over Ben’s shoulder. Ben turned his head and caught sight of Twitch standing not far away. Ben turned to look back at the Captain.
“Let me take lead on this. If it’s my plan then I’ll be held responsible for any consequences. You can take back over when we get below. I’ll tell the team that you didn’t think we can do it and then after we do, you can tell them that you’re overly impressed or something.”
“That’s making me out to be the bad cop,” Captain Perret hissed. “No, I’ll take lead. This is still my mission, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“What I would like from you is an idea to get past the Infected.” Captain Perret said as he made his way to the window.
“I have a few ideas, but my main concern right now is making it down to the ground floor.”
The captain gave him a questioning look.
“When we got into the elevator shaft to go to the roof we didn’t encounter the elevator car, which means that it was stopped on the floors below us. Depending on where it’s stopped, it could prove to be difficult to get around.”
“Right. One obstacle at a time. Our first move will be to get to the first floor.”
“First floor, Sir?”
“If the Infected got into the stairwells we have to assume that they got into the building which means that they have control of the ground floor.”
“Right.”
“Let’s get to the first floor and go from there.”
The climb down proved to be easier than Ben could have hoped for. They found the elevator car had stopped on the ground floor. They were able to stand on top of it as Static put his ear to the door and then gave the all clear. As they pried the doors open Ben wondered if their luck was beginning to change. He had to admit that the helicopter blocking off one side of the road was perfect because it meant that all they had to worry about Infected coming from one direction as they made their way to the manhole cover. That made things much easier. And now finding the elevator car right where it needed to be. Things were looking up.
They entered the first-floor guns up and alert. Just because Static didn’t hear anything didn’t mean there weren’t any surprises waiting for them. Captain Perret sent Annie and Twitch to sweep the floor to ensure they were the only ones around while the rest of the team joined him and made their way to the North end of the building.
On their second attempt, they found the office that had windows directly above the manhole cover they were going to enter. Gatlin dropped his pack and pulled out a length of rope that was more than they need
ed. They could have dropped down from the third or fourth floor with the length of rope they had, but dropping from the first meant that if any fell they would be less likely to severely injury themselves. Even so, Ben wanted to avoid any injuries. Gatlin secured one end of the rope to the door frame by kicking a hole through the wall next to it. Static threw a chair through the window and then Gatlin dropped the rope down to the ground. He then got busy pulling apart the office chair that had been behind the desk.
“What’s the plan, Lieutenant?” asked Captain Perret.
“Cause a distraction to lead the Infected away, climb down, use those trucks as cover and then once everyone’s on the ground get down that manhole as quickly as possible.”
“And how do you plan on doing that?”
“All clear, Captain,” Twitch said as he and Annie entered the office.
“Good,” Captain Perret nodded towards Twitch. “Private Wilkson cover the door just to be sure.”
Annie knelt down to one knee facing out the doorway of the office with her weapon at the ready. Ben believed them when they said the floor was clear, but more than once an Infected had appeared after they had cleared a house or floor and he didn’t want to take any chances that they would be surprised. Everything had to go perfectly for this to work. He hoped it would work.
“Now we’ll distract and lead the Infected away from our area with some noise provided by breaking glass. Gatlin is going to shoot out the windows on the buildings down the road,” Ben said pointing.
“You’re going to use up bullets for that?” asked Captain Perret.
“If the batteries in the cars and trucks on the street weren’t dead we’d see if we could get a car alarm going. That worked well in the past.”
“Is the glass going to be loud enough?”
“Let’s find out.”
Ben motioned to Gatlin who took up position just to the side of the now open window so that he had a clear vision to the buildings down the street. He raised his rifle and fired a few shots. The shots themselves made little noise due to the suppressor on his gun. The rest of the team stood near the other windows to watch. Down the street, they saw a row of windows on the building across the street shatter and fall to the street. To his relief, the sound was louder than Ben though it might be. As the sound of breaking glass faded Gatlin shot out another row of windows just above the first.
