by Kempf, Shaun
“Don’t we take supplies with us?” Patrick asked.
“We do.”
“Then why’s my pack empty?”
“Because you get to carry everything we find until your pack is full,” Darrien responded as he stepped forward. “Are you sure he can handle the gun?” Darrien asked Dave.
“I made sure he spent plenty of time at the range,” Dave said as he put his hand on Patrick’s shoulder. “He’s a good shot.”
“Those pellet guns at the range are a lot different than an actual revolver.”
“He’ll be fine.”
Darrien didn’t respond, he only shrugged his shoulders and turned to head out. Dave glared after Darrien, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to start something with Darrien in front of his son on his first day out.
Darrien and Dave got along for the most part. They had been a scavenger team for over a year now and they worked well together. The friction began when Patrick expressed interest in becoming a scavenger and Dave said that when he turned sixteen he could. Dave spoke to Darrien about Patrick joining their team, but Darrien didn’t like the idea. He felt that Patrick would be too much of a distraction for Dave. Scavenging was a risky job and scavenger teams put their lives on the line every time they went out. More importantly, everyone else was relying on them to be successful in finding supplies on each outing. Darrien felt that Dave wouldn’t be as focused with his son along. Dave disagreed and told Darrien that his son was joining their team.
They stopped and got a quick breakfast of oatmeal and some dried fruit at the cookhouse before heading out. As they exited the camp each man grabbed a helmet with a light attached to it. They were make-shift mining helmets. Someone had, early on, found a construction site with a bunch of extra hard hats. Someone else had found a cache of head lights used by campers and hikers. The two items were put together and they had their scavenging helmets. The lights provided a way to see as they walked through the sewers and the hard hats prevented them from knocking their heads in the low tunnels.
Darrien was at the front of the group. He was checking the markings on the walls as they walked through the tunnels. Patrick was the last in the line of three men. He was pretty quiet and dragged his feet a lot at first, but after an hour of walking, he had started to perk up.
“I didn’t realize you guys walked so far each day,” Patrick commented.
“At first we didn’t have to,” Dave said. “But we’ve already search everything we could close to the camp, so we’ve had to go further away each time we go out.”
“Do you ever re-check the areas you checked before in case anything was missed?”
“Sometimes. There is a special group that does that. They also check areas that were initially marked unreachable to see if anything has changed.”
“Poor bastards,” said Darrien. “They get the most heat because they come back with the least, but there usually just isn’t anything to find.”
“Doesn’t everyone know that?” asked Patrick.
“Sure, but people want results,” Dave answered. “Especially when everything is so high in demand.”
Darrien suddenly stopped. He lifted his finger to his lips. He looked down to his left. The only sound Dave could hear was water dripping into a pool somewhere down the tunnel ahead of them. They stood there, silent.
The one thing Dave liked about working with Darrien was his sense of hearing. Darrien’s sense of hearing was, it seemed to Dave, super powered. More than once Darrien had heard the Infected before they saw them, which Dave was sure had saved their lives. He trusted Darrien’s ears, no questions asked.
Darrien looked up and down the tunnel, they were heading. The light pierced the darkness, but only a few feet. Dave tapped Darrien on the shoulder. When Darrien looked at him, he gave him a ‘what’s up’ look. Darrien opened his mouth to say something, but then quickly turned his head and looked back down the tunnel. Then Dave heard it too.
It was a soft scraping noise. It was rhythmic in nature and getting louder, but still wasn’t more than whisper coming from the darkness. Darrien pulled out his revolver and held it ready. Dave did the same. He looked back to Patrick and, without a word, encouraged him to get his revolver ready.
They stood there, not moving, listening to the scraping noise getting closer. Then Dave noticed some movement just beyond the reach of Darrien’s headlamp. He put one hand on Darrien’s shoulder and pointed at it with is other. Darrien had great ears, but Dave had an eye for detail. He often noticed things that Darrien missed, which had led to some great finds. The movement and sound were getting closer.
Then, into the light, came about a half dozen rats. They were a little larger than the average rat, but not the largest that the men had seen before. Darrien holstered his revolver and grabbed the club he had hanging from his belt. He raised his club as best he could in the tunnel, prepared to strike. The rats had become as desperate as humans in finding food and were known to attack live people. These rats, however, ran past the group of men without even stopping to smell a boot.
“What the hell was that?” asked Darrien at a whisper.
“I’m pretty sure those were rats,” answered Patrick.
“Yes, they were,” said Dave. “But we’ve never seen them act like that before.”
“If they don’t run the other way when they see you, more often than not they try to attack you,” said Darrien as he put the club back on his belt.
“Wherever they were going, they were on a mission,” Patrick pointed out.
“Do we see where they’re going or where they’re coming from?” asked Darrien.
“We keep going,” Dave answered. “We have a way to go yet and I want to get back before it gets too late.”
Darrien nodded and started to lead the way again. A short way ahead they followed a soft bend in the tunnel that opened up into a circular connection area that had three other tunnels that connected to it. Darrien scanned the walls with is light. Two of the new three tunnels were marked. He kept his light on the unmarked tunnel.
“Time to take the tunnel less traveled by,” said Darrien.
“You use the markings to determine where you have and have not been?” asked Patrick.
“That’s right,” answered Dave. “And each marking means something a little different. It tells us, generally speaking, what was down that tunnel. We’ll start going over that later.”
The group began to make their way across the open chamber when a noise drew their attention to the tunnel off to their left. All three of their lamps fell on the opening at the same time revealing the pale face of an Infected man. Darrien and Dave drew their revolvers immediately and fired. One shot hit the Infected man in the neck and the other when into his head right between his eye and the bridge of his nose. The man fell. Behind him was an Infected woman.
“Patrick! Pull your gun!” Dave shouted at Patrick who had taken a step back.
Patrick looked at him with wide eyes.
“Pull your gun!” Dave shouted again.
Patrick looked down to the gun that was sticking out of his pants pocket. He reached down and attempted to pull it out, but it had gotten stuck on the fabric of his pants. Dave looked back to the tunnel. Darrien had shot the woman in the head and she had fallen on top of the man, but behind her was another woman. Dave felt torn, causing him to freeze in place. He wanted to rush to his son to help him get the gun out, but he knew he needed to help Darrien shot the zombies. More zombies were shambling out of the darkness and Dave need to act. He turned from his son and shot, but only grazed the next zombie’s ear. Darrien’s shot found its mark and the zombie fell, but more kept coming.
Dave could tell that there was a decent line of Infected that crowded the tunnel. He could now hear them starting to groan and grunt as they pushed their way towards the scavengers. If they could pile up enough bodies they might be able to block up the tunnel or at least create enough of a barrier that they could get away. Dave fired again.
It wasn’t until Dave and Darrien had to stop firing to reload that they ran into problems. Scavengers only carry enough ammunition for one reload of their weapon. They are taught to run rather than fight if they are discovered. The weapons they carry are more for self-defense and emergencies. Dave knew that they needed to try to retreat, but since he and Darrien ran out of bullets at the same time the Infected had a chance to rush the chamber.
At that moment, Dave realized that he still hadn’t heard a third weapon. He turned toward Patrick with the intent to tell him to run, but even as he turned and the words left his mouth he knew that Patrick wasn’t going to move. Dave saw his son standing like a statue with his gun stuck in his pocket looking toward the Infected and his whole body shaking.
All thoughts of reloading his weapon disappeared as he watched in horror as an Infected man grabbed the arm that Patrick was holding his revolver in and bit down into the upper arm. For a moment, Patrick stood there and stared at the man on his arm. Then the man shook his head and tore a chunk of flesh from Patrick’s arm. Patrick let out a scream as the gun finally came from and dropped to the ground. He was then tackled by an Infected boy, probably no older than Patrick. All three went down in a pile.
Darrien yelled out and started to take a step towards the pile that held his son, but he was tackled from the side by a blonde woman. He could feel her teeth through his shirt as she bit down into the flesh just under his armpit. He let out a grunt as they feel to the ground. He used the handle of his gun to smack the side of the woman’s head. She let go and tumbled away. Dave attempted to get up again only to find another Infected attacking him. He was able to land a solid connect with his gun to the jaw of the Infected man. It caused the man to hesitate, but it didn’t stop him.
Somewhere Dave heard a gunshot followed by a scream and a second gunshot. He knew they had gotten to Darrien. Dave continued to fight as best as he could, but there were too many of them. They finally pinned him down to the ground. As he felt many different mouths of teeth sink into his flesh, he turned his head towards where he last saw his son. Through the shuffling feet of the Infected between them, he saw Patrick’s face. Patrick’s eyes were lifeless and his face still held a look of terror.
Dave felt a tear slide out of his left eye. As he became light headed and the light of their head beams seemed to fade from his vision his last thought was a single word; ‘sorry’.
SIXTEEN
Ben awoke suddenly only to find the overhead lights rhythmically flashing. He sat up and saw a number of the refugees racing around holding rifles and pistols. He quickly got to his feet and got the attention of one of woman as she attempted to race by.
“What’s going on?” Ben asked as he caught the woman’s arm causing her to stop.
The woman glared at him as she yanked her arm out of his grip. “They found us.”
“Who found us?”
“The Zombies,” the woman yelled as she raced off.
Ben turned on his heels and returned to the group waking each team member as he stumbled around the group. It had been a long time since Ben and his team had slept out in the field. Since they had joined the army they hadn’t had a mission that required more than a few hours in the field. There had always been a helicopter or armored ride home. Even so, Ben was happy to see that his team had not lost their ability to quickly shake off their sleep and get ready for anything. By the time he had made his way around the group, everyone was already standing. The only one slow to get to his feet was the captain.
“What’s going on?” asked Static.
“Apparently the Infected have found this camp,” Ben said as he grabbed his weapon and the rest of his team followed suit.
“How many?” asked Annie.
“I don’t know, but look around,” Ben waved his hand behind him. “Everyone’s on alert. They know the seriousness of being discovered down here and so should we.”
“What’s the plan?” asked Standing Bear.
“We’ll support where it’s needed,” Ben intended to say more, but was interrupted by the Captain.
“Ignore that order.”
“Sir?”
“You heard me. We will not be doing anything of the kind.”
“But sir,” Ben started doing his best to keep his emotions in check. “We’re better trained and have better weapons we can be an asset to these people. We should help.”
“And we’ll need our weapons and ammunition to get us out of here. Everyone get your gear together we’re bugging out,” Captain Perret said ignoring Ben. No one moved. “Let’s go, Let’s go, Let’s go.”
“Who are you?” asked Ben feeling the cover he had placed over his anger starting to give way.
“Lieutenant?” Captain Perret asked casually as he turned his head to look directly at Ben.
“Who are you? Because you are sure as hell, not an Army Ranger,” Ben said as he stared right back at the Captain.
“You’re walking a slippery slope, Lieutenant. I’d be very careful what you say next.”
“Then just tell me who you are,” Ben demanded.
“Captain Tyler Perret of the United States Army Rangers.”
“Bullshit. No Ranger would want to ‘bug out’ when the shit started to hit the fan. I may not have been a Ranger long, but I know they, we pride ourselves in facing danger. Nor would an Army Ranger Captain refuse to help get civilians out of here. Logistics be damned.”
“Finished?” asked Captain Perret in an even tone.
“No,” Ben said and made his way over to the Captain’s pack. “I think it’s time we found out who you really are.” Ben picked up the pack and started to open it up.
“Put the bag down Lieutenant,” Captain Perret said again in his even tone.
Ben glanced over his shoulder at the Captain and found him with his pistol drawn and raised. Ben put the pack back down on the ground and turned to fully face the captain. Ben took a couple of steps towards the captain.
“You’re going to shot one of your own men? I thought we weren’t supposed to do that.”
“When it comes to national security I am within my rights to use whatever means necessary to protect those freedoms from foreign and domestic threats. Now, you will stand down and then we are going to get our things together and quietly make our way to the river or I will charge you with attempted mutiny.”
Ben stood there, not moving. He didn’t even look away from the Captain, but out of his peripheral vision, he watched as one by one his men raised their weapons and pointed them at the Captain. Captain Perret noticed as well as he broke Ben’s gaze and glanced around him. He looked back at Ben and furrowed his brow. Then the Captain lowered his weapon.
“You forget where these men’s loyalties lay, Captain,” Ben said. “Standing Bear, relieve the Captain of his weapons. Then you and Static escort him to the Mayor’s office. See if she has a place to hold him.”
Standing Bear moved forward and the captain willingly gave up his weapons. Captain Perret only stopped looking at Ben after Static and Standing Bear started to escort him away.
“Told you something was off with that guy,” Annie said leaning in.
“Yeah, well we’ll discuss what you woman’s intuition has won you later, right now we’ve got to see what we can do to help,” Ben said.
“What’s the plan?” asked Standi
ng Bear.
“Our first priority is stopping the Infected. Let’s find out where the Infected are coming in and plug the hole.”
“My kind of plan,” grunted Gatlin.
“Any ideas where that might be?” asked Annie.
“No. Let’s split up and follow anyone that has a weapon. I have an idea that they might know where they’re going.”
Gatlin and Annie nodded and took off without another word. Ben glanced over his shoulder to the tunnel they had used to enter the chamber. The gate was closed with two refugees standing guard staring into the darkness beyond. One of them was a man holding a pistol of some type. Ben couldn’t make it out from where he was standing. The other refugee was a woman holding a hunting rifle. It reminded him of Annie and he smirked.
He wondered if he had grown callous to the dangers of the world around him that he could find humor even now in the midst of possibly being overrun and killed by the Infected. He had seen a lot of horrors since the outbreak. How could he not as he walked around an Infected Zone for so long? He reminded himself that every waking moment had not been filled with fear and terror. There had been some good times too. Not many, but enough. More importantly, he had gained trusted friends and he knew they were watching his back as much as he watched out for theirs. Perhaps he had grown callous, but knew the value of seeing the good amidst all the bad.
Ben turned and ran toward the stairs that he had learned led to the upper chamber where the nicer shacks were. He bounded up the steps two at a time. Refugees, mostly women, and children, were heading down the stairs. It made Ben wonder if the Mayor and her people had an evacuation plan or if these people just wanted to get as far away from the potential incoming Infected as they could. If the Infected did get into the chamber, the other tunnels would provide potential exits, but they would also cause bottlenecks because of the limited opening. Either way that Ben looked at it, it was imperative that they stop the Infected from invading the chamber.
