by SD Tanner
“Jonesy,” Clarissa said in a low voice.
The young man was moving across to his side of the car. Once he had a clear shot of one, he could take out the other before they’d have time to react.
“Stay low,” he said softly.
“What if there are more in the car?”
“Jas will cover me from the other car,” he replied.
The young man had finally moved within an easy shot, and quickly raising his Glock, he fired directly into his chest. While the man was flung backwards, he pushed open his door, swinging one leg outside and standing up. Shooting across the roof of the car, he hit the other man in the chest. In his peripheral vision, another door was opening on the black SUV, and he swung his handgun ready to fire. He never got a chance to pull the trigger before an eruption of gunfire came from his right. Holes were punching through the heavy door of the SUV, and the windows exploded into a spray of shattered glass. The sound was deafening and he dropped to the ground.
When the firing stopped, he lifted his head until he could see over the hood of his car. To his surprise, a large sandy-colored armored vehicle, complete with goggled soldier, was stopped twenty yards away. Uniformed soldiers were hustling from the vehicle, and moving fast and low across the street towards them.
“Drop your weapon!”
He placed his Glock on the hood of his car and raised his hands. “I’m a cop.”
Other than his bloodied blue shirt, he wasn’t wearing his full uniform, and the man behind the gun and dark glasses looked him up and down suspiciously. “You gotta a badge?”
Slowly reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his badge and threw it onto the hood. The soldier glanced at it and asked, “What did you shoot ‘em for?”
“They were gonna be trouble.” Flicking his head at his two cars, he added, “I’ve got eight people in these cars, and all except one of them is over fifty.”
The soldier straightened and asked in disbelief, “Where were you all? An old people’s home?”
“Don’t be cheeky, young man. I said over fifty, not over seventy.”
“I’m over seventy,” George called from the car.
An older man wearing fatigues walked across from what now looked like a convoy of army trucks, and with his tactical vest and helmet, he looked like the real deal. Giving him a stern look, the man said, “I’m Colonel Bill Ketcher. I take it you’re heading out of the city.”
“Yeah, I’ve been told to get people to the Kirtland Air Force Base.”
It was then he saw Jo making her way across the intersection. Grinning widely, he lowered his arms. “Jo.”
“Jonesy.”
He didn’t know her well enough to hug her, but after the past twenty-four hours, he wanted to. She stood awkwardly next to Bill, and he suspected she felt the same way. With neither of them able to breach the protocol of polite behavior, they simply stood staring at one another with matching wide smiles.
“You know one another?” Bill asked in surprise.
Still smiling at him, Jo replied, “Of course I do. He’s one of my officers. He was the one that told me about the people tearing their faces off.”
Bill gave him an appraising look and nodded. “Okay, I’m gonna have one of the trucks escort you out.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want to leave. I was just going to take these people to a clear road and let them drive themselves.”
“What’s your plan?” Jo asked.
Looking up at the buildings around them, he said, “There’s people in all of these buildings. We need to help them leave.”
As if to prove his point, several people appeared at one of the doors of a building. “Are you the army?”
Their voices carried across the road, and more people were leaving the buildings around them. Very quickly there were more than fifty people walking across the intersection. Glancing at Bill, he said, “This isn’t safe.”
“It’s not safe anywhere.” Speaking into his mike, Bill ordered, “Alpha and Delta, head to the hospital. We’ll deal with these people.”
“What’s at the hospital?” He asked.
“Kids,” Jo replied tersely. “I promised a doctor there we’d send help.”
“Is there any help?” He asked doubtfully.
“Not really,” Bill said. “This is kinda it right now.”
“Then we need to keep people moving,” he replied.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Bolt hole in hell (Leon)
“Okay, we’ve got our orders.”
“But you don’t even know that guy,” Lexie complained.
Giving her a dour look, he replied, “I don’t need to know him. He’s a Colonel and now he’s my CO.”
“It’s Armageddon, but you’ll still do as you’re told by some guy you don’t know?”
“It’s how the military works, Lexie.”
The two trucks were weaving their way along the narrow and crowded streets, driving one behind the other. Inside his truck were a couple of soldiers he didn’t know, Tuck, Jenna and Trigger. Lexie was on the roof of the truck, which he didn’t like, but her gear was bulky and there wasn’t much room inside. He’d never met the five troopers in the other truck that Bill was now calling Delta team. In typical fashion of an officer, Bill had climbed into their truck, immediately commandeered their radios and starting issuing orders. Despite assuring Lexie this was how the system worked, he wasn’t entirely sure he had to do what anyone told him anymore. Every base he’d been to on their long journey home was in chaos, and he wasn’t convinced there was any viable military left standing. Old habits die hard, and he figured he would do as Bill ordered until he was convinced there was a reason not to.
Trigger gave him a quizzical look, and guessing he wanted to know what they were talking about, he said, “She doesn’t understand why we’re following the Colonel’s orders.”
“She has a point,” Trigger remarked. “For all we know that guy just found a uniform.”
“Nah,” Jenna replied decisively. “He had brass attitude.”
He didn’t doubt Bill was who he said he was, but Trigger was right, and in the current situation they couldn’t be sure. “We’ll call it on a case by case basis. But there are kids in that hospital and I’d get them out, with or without being ordered to.”
“You’ve got a death wish,” Lexie said dourly.
“It’s not a death wish. I’ve had this job for eight years, and if anyone has the skills to get those kids out then it’s us, so that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Lexie snorted. “Fine, but I really need to get to CaliTech.”
“What’s she talking about?” Trigger asked.
“She wants to go to CaliTech. They’re the company that designed and built the gear she’s wearing.”
“Then she’s right, we need more of it.”
Lexie must have overheard Trigger through his radio mike and she replied, “Finally somebody with a brain.”
He was about to object when the truck came to a stop, and he peered through the narrow opening assuming they were at the hospital. If they were, then he couldn’t see any building that looked like one.
“Why are we stopping?”
“People ahead,” the driver replied steadily.
He asked, “Lexie, what do you see?”
“Lotsa pink blobs.”
Frustrated, he looked at Jenna and she shrugged and pointed to the door. He supposed they would need to find out what was going on. Opening the door to the truck, he cautiously poked his gun outside. It was then he heard the voices.
“Are you army?”
“Help us.”
“We need to get out.”
“You need to get us outta here!”
Stepping out of the truck, he was confronted by at least fifty people standing between them and the abandoned vehicles on the road. He glanced up at the tall buildings surrounding them and decided it was too dangerous to be stopped on the street. Looking across at Lexie, who was still sitting on top of the truck, he said, “Le
xie, get down here.”
“Why? There’s fifty people out here and we can’t help them. They need to get back into the buildings and find somewhere safe. There’s critters in the buildings and they’re already heading towards the exits.”
“You coulda mentioned that earlier. Now, get down here and lead these people wherever it’s safe.”
Lexie jumped down from the roof of the truck. “Like where, Leon? Where is safe? Every building has critters.”
A flare of irritation flashed through him and he said firmly, “Then we’ll go in with them and make it safe.”
“I thought we were rescuing kids at the hospital?”
Before he could tell her to stop wasting time, he heard Ark’s calm voice through his radio. “This is how combat works, Lexie. Things change and you deal with each problem as it happens. Right now we have to get these people secured, so let’s do that.”
“But if we stop for every group looking for help, then we’ll never make it to the hospital.”
Ark’s voice became soothing. “It’s okay, just follow your orders. You think too much, Lexie. We’ll deal with this problem and then the next one, until eventually we run out of problems. Stop thinking and just do, it’ll be fine.”
Other than knowing how to use the sophisticated gear, it was becoming obvious to him that Lexie didn’t have a clue what she was doing. Ark was right, she needed to do as she was told, and that’s what he was politely telling her.
His point wasn’t missed by Lexie. “In other words shut up and do as I’m told.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ark replied.
He couldn’t see her shrug under the heavy armor, but her tone was one of resignation. “Fine, then their best bet is the small supermarket. It has food and a storage room at the back with no windows.”
Scanning the line of buildings, there was a small supermarket with a green awning. The front entrance had a wide glass door, and flyers offering discounts were still pinned to the windows. Past the painted signs and flyers on the window, the supermarket looked fairly undisturbed, and he was surprised it hadn’t been raided. The people on the street were beginning to gather around his open truck door, and dressed in everything from jeans to business wear, they all looked tired and frightened. He noticed several children and a few teenagers in the group forming around him, and some of the people were clearly injured, making him wonder how they’d survived their attackers.
It had clearly been a long few days in the city, but he waved their questions away. “I dunno about that, Lexie, there’s at least fifty of them.”
“No, she’s right,” Ark replied. “They’ll need food and water.”
“But what if some of them turn?”
“With fifty people at least it’ll be a fair fight,” Ark replied flatly.
“Nothing about this is fair,” he replied dourly. Turning to face the crowd, he said loudly, “Okay, folks, we don’t have the transport or support to take you out of the city. You can make your own way out and head to Kirtland Air Force Base, or we’ll get you secured inside the supermarket. It has food and water and you can hide in the storage room.”
“Where’s the army?” A man asked.
He shook his head. “We’re only the recon troops. The rest are…back at the base.”
“What are they doing there? Why aren’t they here killing these things?”
He couldn’t see much point to lying. “We’ve had the same problems on the bases that you’ve had in the city. Our people have been turning as well.”
“Are you saying there’s no army?” A woman asked in horror. “Who’s going to get us out of here?”
Lexie saved him having to answer, and through his headset he heard her speak. “They’re coming in force.”
“Lock the trucks down!” He began pushing the people in front of him, herding them towards the supermarket and its cheerful green awning. “Go! Go! Go! They’re coming.” Through his radio, he shouted, “Hold ‘em back, Lexie.”
“No need to shout. I’m blind, not deaf,” she muttered, as she swiftly climbed to the top of the truck.
He didn’t have time to watch what she was doing and assumed Ark would guide her. He didn’t know much about the tech, but he was starting to understand why there was a shadow nav. With their advanced vision, they could defend themselves from threats others couldn’t see, but it was a lot of data to absorb and process. Behind him the gunners had opened fire, and he guessed the critters, as Lexie had just named them, were already on the street. Not bothering to look, he continued to push the people in the direction of the supermarket, and Jenna and Trigger were herding even more people towards the entrance.
When he reached the wide single door, he realized he didn’t know what was inside and called, “Ark! What’s it like in there?”
“Kinda busy, Leon, but there were at least two of them.”
Trigger appeared at his side. “What’s the status?”
He didn’t know Trigger and he wished Tuck was with him. “Two in the shop.”
Trigger called. “Jenna, open the door and we’ll go in.”
He had an M4 and the Desert Eagle, but only the handgun was .50-cal and able to take down the critters. With only a seven round magazine, he’d need to make every shot count. “Are you crazy?”
Grinning widely, Trigger pulled a sawed-off shotgun from his pack in a fluid movement. “Some say I am, but I say I gotta shotgun.”
Smirking, he asked, “Do you think that’ll work?”
Shrugging, Trigger replied, “Let’s find out.”
It was a risky maneuver, but life had just gotten a lot more dangerous and he shrugged in reply. Raising his Desert Eagle with both hands, Jenna opened the door and he cautiously walked into the supermarket. With the power off, the shop was gloomy, but he could see shelves of food and a cashier counter to his left. Trigger had followed him into the shop, and they both stood about six yards apart, peering down the narrow aisles.
“What do you think?” He asked.
“I’ll lead, you follow. We’ll cover one another to reload.”
That made sense to him. “Roger that.”
Trigger walked ahead of him, swinging his head and shotgun from left to right. When they were half way down the fifteen-yard long aisle, a high pitch static screeching broke out to his left. He pointed his gun in the direction of the noise, and was rewarded by the sight of a black-faced critter still wearing remnants of its clothing and skin. It seemed to bounce across the top of the shelves, and he opened fire at it just as it was about to jump into their aisle. With its rapid movement, the shot went wild, and he now had six rounds left in the gun.
Trigger aimed his shotgun directly at the critter. “Stand clear.”
At such close quarters, he was at risk of being hit by buckshot, and he pulled back, crashing into the shelves behind him. The sound of the shotgun exploded in his ears, and he instinctively ducked. A spray of black rubber fell on the floor in front of him, and he felt it landing on his helmet. Quickly looking up, there was another critter running across the top of the shelves towards them. It seemed oblivious to the fate of its brother, and he aimed his gun at it. This time he was able to see the impact of the Desert Eagle. The critter’s head had literally vaporized with the blast, and its body collapsed into the next aisle.
“Ark, are we clear now?” He didn’t get a reply immediately and asked, “Ark?”
“Still kinda busy, Leon, but yeah, the site looks good to go.”
He had no idea what was going on outside and called, “Jenna, get them in here.”
People began to run past him in the narrow aisle, grabbing food from the shelves as they went. “Secure any doors at the back,” he called.
It wasn’t a great solution, but it would have to do for now. Forcing his way past the heaving movement around him, he found Jenna at the door. “What’s going on out there?”
“Crap. Lexie and the gunners have been killing the creatures, but there’s only so much they can do. There’s to
o many of them.”
He batted Jenna on the arm. “Then we gotta go.”
He, Jenna and Trigger ran to their truck and were joined by Tuck and the other two soldiers. Scattered across the cars and road were half human and half black, rubbery bodies.
“Where have you been?” He asked Tuck.
“I could ask you the same question.”
Weighed down by their gear, they clambered into the truck and he asked, “Where’s Lexie?”
“Don’t worry about her,” Ark replied. “She’ll find you.”
The driver had kept the engine idling and both vehicles began to slowly move along the road. Through the narrow slit in the truck, he could see more critters were running from the buildings. Suddenly his view was blocked by the now familiar black armor. Lexie was running alongside their truck, and he was surprised at how relieved he was to see her. Clearly she wasn’t a soldier, but she never shirked a fight, and he respected her cojones in combat.
“That was not a solution,” Jenna said unhappily.
Leaving fifty men, women and children holed up inside a storage room didn’t solve their problem, and he wasn’t happy either. “I know, but it’s all we can do for now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Lemmings (Lexie)
After securing the fifty or so people in the supermarket, she was again sitting on top of the truck with the gunner, when the large, squat hospital building came into view. The hospital was surrounded by a collection of pale colored buildings, and there was an open concrete area in front of the main doors. Through her visor, she could see inanimate human shaped lumps on the ground, and wondered whether they were critters or people. She suspected, had she been able to see them properly, the number of dead bodies inside the buildings and on the road would have been overwhelming. As it was, the corpses were only inanimate objects in her visor, something to step over and nothing to do with her. Using the zoom and detail function on her visor, she was able to locate the living in the buildings around her, but they were often surrounded by the ominous green blobs she was now calling critters. It was their movement that made her think of critters. The blobs were fast and scuttled about, often on four or more legs.
