by mike Evans
Greg tried to say something but was unsure what would make him feel better. He waited for him to stop kicking it only to realize his desecration of the body was not nearly close to being done. He brought up a steel toed reinforced boot and brought it down repeatedly until the skull beneath his foot squished. When he looked up he saw Shaun and McQuaig staring at him. He dropped the knife and brought up trembling hands to rub through his hair. He stopped when he realized they were covered with blood. Aslin held his hands out in front of him thinking they could infect him. They followed Aslin, picking up his gear, and he found a water fountain that he washed his hands in scrubbing at the blood and gore in between his nails until they were clean.
When it hit home that he only had two out of the three teens he’d tasked with clearing the opposite side of the building it dawned on him that there was bad news coming his way. “Where’s Hammond at, Shaun?”
Shaun shook his head no and Aslin who wasn’t in the mood, yelled, “What the hell does that mean?”
“He’s dead, Aslin, do you want to know the horrific way that he died, and that we got to watch the entire effing thing? Fine, he was on the ground because he doesn’t like heights. McQuaig and I went up on one of the lifts because we’d found some of your stupid supplies. Well, like always we split up and bad things happened. The second we were up there getting things to take back the dead exploded out of a set of boxes. There wasn’t anything that we could do to stop them. We tried taking them out and there were plenty that we did, but we almost got taken out when they hit the lift. I figured they’d get weaker over time without food but I don’t think that is the case at all, not that I have any idea when the last time these things ate was.”
Aslin said, “What do you mean? Wait, do I want to know?”
“You already opened Pandora’s box might as well finish the story. We were on top of the platform. The ones who did not take Hammond for a meal saw us and tried to kill us, of course. We had to have been thirty foot up and they hit the damn lift so hard they almost knocked it over. We lost our balance and McQuaig, thank God, had her safety strap on or it would have probably been just me standing here.”
Aslin looked to her and she nodded. “He’s right, Fox saved my ass. We put the safety straps on and when they hit I went right over the side. They were trying to reach to get me but once he righted himself and got back up to the top of the platform he raised me up out of reach and then took out the dead that were left. Once we got to the floor again that was when we heard you two firing like a couple of crazy men.”
“We aren’t crazy, McQuaig!” Greg said. “We wanted to survive. There were a slew of them standing around the corner. We were trying to get away but when you guys started firing that was when they lost their shit and came running. They decided that we were a better meal than you and bum rushed us. It was everything we could do to still be standing here talking. I didn’t have time to do head shots when we were less than like fifteen yards from being one of them or being in them. I sprayed across their knees and legs and when they went down Aslin fired off into skull shots.”
McQuaig was staring at his thumbs and asked, “Then why exactly did he have so much of those things brains on his fingers? I mean, what happened to you?”
Aslin started to talk and then decided he’d had enough and started walking back for where his supplies were. Greg said, “He pushed me or threw me out of the way…not sure honestly, it happened so fast it was hard to grasp. When he did there were two of them that knocked him down to the ground and when they did it was almost the end of him. Aslin had his arms practically pinned down and I fired at them taking the first out. The second didn’t give me a shot and I was handicapped not wanting to shoot Aslin. When it came after him to bite, he shoved a finger into the things skull. Aslin flipped it off of him and then buried his knife blade under its chin. I think it probably messed with him. It is probably the closest that he has ever been to dying in the field.”
Aslin, who was starting to feel sick from the adrenaline rush, turned around already yelling before he was fully turned, “Would the three of you get your asses moving and do it now? I want to get the hell out of here and I want to gather all the shit we need. Bust a move; we’re wasting time we don’t have.”
They made their way through the store all with guns up and at the ready. They saw no more of the dead and none of them felt any more at ease because of it. When they had all of the supplies they brought the truck into the center of the store. They had packaged the items that needed to go back onto a set of three pallets. Shaun looked at everything and said, “Dang, Aslin, with all this crap, when are you ever going to have time to go out on missions?”
“I'm sure we have someone that is handier than me,” Aslin replied, “that can go through all of these directions and make sense of it all.”
The three nodded not thinking of anyone that would be useful. Shaun said, “I have no idea, maybe Patrick could do it. I don’t know all the guys that well to say who could do it.”
McQuaig smacked his arm, “Hey, ass…you realize that there might have, by some slim chance, been a woman that survived that is just as intelligent and handy as any man, right?”
Shaun was rubbing his arm trying to think of someone, “Well, then I guess I stand corrected. You got anyone in mind, or did you just fit to bring up that point?”
When she had nothing to retort with, Shaun said, “Well, when we get back we can look for the right woman or man for the job. I don’t’ care who does it if they can make all this crap work. We lost someone today and we need to make sure that there is some gain from it.”
Aslin came around the corner with a forklift taking it slow and put the three pallets into the back of the truck. Greg said, “Damn, Aslin did you use to work in a factory or something?”
“I drove one of these things all through high school and two years of college. I don't think I could ever forget how to do this, even if I tried.”
Shaun said, “You went to a two-year college, Aslin?”
“No, but life got in the way. My dad got sick and my mom didn’t make anything working where she was. I enlisted and sent home half my check. When my two years was up I wasn’t tired of seeing the world. I started applying for the Seals and after two years I was accepted.”
“What did you do after that?” Fox said.
Aslin said, “Same thing I’ve always done. I did what I was told until I got dropped off in Iowa and then ended up with a bunch of troublemaker teenagers.”
Greg wrapped an arm around him and said, “You wouldn’t have it any other way, would you? You know you’d miss us, right?”
“You realize that if I had it my way that Clary and I would probably be in some tropical destination loaded to the teeth with guns, food, and liquor and living out our days browned to a crisp and safe forever? But you know what, if I have the option of living out and enjoying myself or helping others, I think that I wouldn’t have it any other way. I didn’t go into the military because I was selfish. I did it because I wanted to help people. When we’re ready and can make a stand, I think we’re going to give the dead and anyone that comes after us a hell of a challenge if they want to try and take us out. But seriously, Greg, if you don’t get that dirty arm off me, that has been God knows where, I’m in the mood to rip it off, like, I’m really not kidding here, back off.”
Greg’s cocky smile turned uneasy and the four of them climbed into the separate vehicles to begin the short drive home. They drove slowly through the parking lot keeping ever vigilant for the Turned. Shaun looked down at the radio and clicked it on, “Man, you are getting old, Aslin. What if we needed help?”
Aslin who had a hundred-yard stare going came out of it, “Huh, what?”
Shaun pointed a second time to the small radio. “Aslin, I said, what if we needed help? The radio is off.”
“Then I would have switched it on, Shaun, it isn’t a big deal.”
The two drove quietly the rest of the way back. When they
were on the small two lane highway a few miles away Shaun hit Aslin to stop as he almost ran into the back of the Humvee that McQuaig was driving. Aslin said, “I need a fucking vacation. What is it, what’s going on?”
Shaun pointed into the distance at the black smoke. He said, “Did you remember having the base smoldering with black smoke when we left or do you think there’s an issue?”
Aslin pulled to a complete stop getting out of the truck and using his field glasses to look into the distance. What he saw made his gut wrench. “Fox, get me that fucking radio, now!”
Chapter 7
2 months’ prior
Joe and Doug drove slowly, looking at the highway that seemed to stretch forever in front of them. Joe lit a smoke staring at it and handed it to Doug before grabbing a second one. “Well, Doug, that could have gone better.”
“You got your ass whooped, Joe. Christ, you realize that you pulled a knife on a fucking navy Seal, right? I knew you were stupid, but you just topped even my highest expectations for your stupidity. What‘n the hell were you thinking?”
Joe tried to adjust himself in his seat to make his increasingly aching body more comfortable but failed to do so. “Well, Doug, at the time it seemed like a really good, brave idea. I recant that thought now of course and no longer feel that way. I’m thinking that over the next few hours we might want to figure out where we are going to go because the last thing I want to do is be on open road in the dark unless we can be in the middle of nowhere. Oh, and your supply room hiding spot sucks! From now on I pick where shit is hidden when we steal it. Unsure why I listened to you in the first place.”
“If memory serves me, Joe, it was you that picked the spot and me that told you that it was a shitty spot to hide shit because everyone would know that we were in there.”
Joe thought about it and then smiled, wincing at the pain in his face. “Yep, that’s right, you know, come to think of it that was a shitty spot to put stuff.”
Doug pulled to a stop when he was out of sight of the base. He looked around nervously feeling naked with the guns sitting in the back and disassembled. Joe watched him looking around like a cat overdosed with catnip and said, “Oh, for god sakes, Doug, would you quit. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“We have four guns, Joe, each of which is in pieces that I’m not a hundred percent sure either of us can put back together, and on top of that I don’t know if any of those damn dead things are out here and ready to come on after us and rip the car doors off and make a meal out of me.”
“What you don’t think they’d eat me?” Joe said.
“I don’t give a shit if they eat you, Joe, so long as they leave my ass alone.”
“Watch it, Doug. I’m the only one of us that knows how to reassemble that hardware in the back. You don’t want my first test shot to be in you to make sure that they work, do you?”
Doug gave an uneasy smile shaking his head. “We’re in this together for better or worse Joe. Where do you want me to drive?”
“Well, they think we’re rebels, don’t they?” Joe said.
“I don’t think rebels really came up in the conversation, Joe, to tell you the truth. I think thieves was used more than once and a few other colorful descriptions I prefer not to repeat.”
“Well, they seemed to be scared as shit of the other camp that they found. Maybe we need to go stay there for a stint of time. What do you have to say about that?”
“I kind of think that it is a really bad idea, Joe, but given I don’t have one that is better, I guess that it will do for now. You just make sure that if you go by and someone is firing, that you are ready to lay down some cover fire whilst we get the fuck out of dodge.”
Joe nodded and the two headed the long way stopping only once. Joe leapt out of the car remembering the bruises he had from Clary and then got everything from the back and put it and himself into the backseat. When he slammed the door Doug was already pushing down the gas. Joe did his best taking a few tries but finally figuring out how to reassemble the two rifles and pistols. When he had it done he said, “These are definitely nice guns but they didn't give us the full on auto.”
Doug was unconcerned because he could barely shoot a rifle the way it was said, “Yeah, but they sent us away with something. I don’t think he was kidding when he said that he was debating tossing us out on the other side of the fence with nothing but a kick in the ass. I really think that he would have done it.”
“Well, I got the feeling we'll be seeing them again before too long. I only hope that the next time we see Clary and Aslin that we’re pulling triggers and they’re in the way of my sights.”
Doug said, “I don’t want to step back on that base until they’re cleared out. Do you know how to get to this place, Joe?”
Joe pointed out a few streets and in fifteen minutes they were deep into Des Moines. The dead were everywhere and when the small car came up over a hill they realized any other way they could have chosen to go would have been better than the road they had picked. The dead were starving for flesh and the two in the car were the best looking thing that they had seen in a very long time.
They came out of their trance, crouching, and then sprinted towards the small car like the starting pistol had gone off at the races. Doug floored it driving recklessly. The small car was doing its best but was not built for defensive, aggressive driving. He swerved it in between different wrecks that restricted them from being able to accelerate to the speed he wanted to. Joe saw the carnage that had been left in the cars that had their doors ripped off of them and did not want to join the permanent street decor.
He pulled the charging handle back praying to God that he had assembled it correctly. Joe knew there was only one way to test it so he took aim, but with the car swerving his shots got sloppy and he missed. When Doug found a straight stretch Joe fired off enough shots, missing heads each time but striking knee caps just enough times to trip up the leaders of the pack. They screamed at them as they fell running full speed to the ground, their faces getting instant road rash. They found the main road that led them to the housing development they were searching for.
Doug was breathing heavy and was unsure if he was going to have a heart attack. He looked in his rearview mirror seeing that the dead had only been momentarily slowed down. They were back and looked like a pack of blood hungry dogs running after them. The only ones not in the fight were those few that Joe had managed to disable with the luck of the Irish on his side. “You realize seeking refuge with a shit ton of these fuckers behind us is a horrible way to introduce ourselves, right? You know what I’d do if I was in charge of this place and someone brought us a horde of dead right behind them?”
“Yeah, I’d empty magazines into them until they no longer moved. You better hope that we’re luckier than that though because otherwise we don’t have much time left on Earth,” Joe screamed
When they were within seeing distance Doug held out a hand honking the horn repeatedly. Owen was on guard duty, not something that he hated doing. Their area was kept quiet and the dead were few and far between. He heard a honking coming from the distance and looked up over his coffee to see what it was coming towards them. He hadn’t seen a stranger in a very long time, not since they had taken over the development. He hit his walkie-talkie, “Hey, we got an issue up here. I want some backup and I want it now! We got strangers and dead. Last thing I want is one of them making it up to the fence.”
Within a minute radio chatter was barking back and forth and they had ten guys all armed with AR-15’s that had been obtained from gun shops in the local community. The leader of the group, Cade, walked up with a pair of spotting binoculars. He saw the two coming and was ready to fire until he saw what they were wearing and the rifle that Joe was holding. He said, “You know what? Clear out what is behind them and let them in.”
Owen looked over and said “Since when the FUCK do we take refugees?”
Cade said, “Owen, I tell you the minute that I
need to answer your questions will probably be the minute that I’m no longer in charge. Just do as you are told. You got a problem with two more people?”
Owen tilted his head back and forth unsure how he should answer. He figured better to just shoot them and get it over with. He aimed down on them with the rest and they began firing taking down the dead as quickly as they could. Doug and Joe both watched as men came up over the top of a large fence that had been reinforced with two by fours all along the length of it.
Joe said, “Well, we’re either saved or fucked, but it ain’t going to be one or the other. What are we going to do?”
Doug started to say something when a massive number of gunshots began. He closed his eyes as he drove, ready for whatever was going to come next, which he was pretty sure was going to be an eternity in hell. When he opened his eyes and looked in the rearview he saw the dead falling as quickly as they could be taken down. Joe saw the same thing and signed a cross on his chest, “I can’t believe that we got rid of them. We’re gonna make it, we’re going to live God damn!”
Doug said, “Well, we will see the inside of those gates it looks like, that or they’re shitty shots.”
Joe saw them dropping one after another and shook his head no as he watched. “They don’t have any issues at all. They know how to use those things just fine.”
Joe clapped his hands together, confident they weren’t going to be dead. He said, “Punch the fucking gas and get us up there, there ain’t any reason to look a gift horse in the mouth!”
The gates parted as the two men approached. Cade stood in the entryway to it hand up telling them to halt. When they did he pointed to a parking area that was surrounded. The two men saw that this gated community had been reinforced as best that it could be. They had only made it into the first tier of the community. Two men walked over opening Doug and Joe’s door and ushered them out, taking their weapons immediately. Joe said, “Hey, we just wanted to say-”
