by John O'Brien
“So, with that said, what can we do better?” I ask. Silence among the group ensues. It’s the usual response to question like that.
“How were our reload times?” I ask, trying to prompt a discussion.
“I thought they were fine. We didn’t lose any targets because of it,” Robert replies.
“Okay, true. Any difficulties designating targets and getting the guns to bear? How was the lead on the moving targets?” I ask further.
“I thought we coordinated well and it seemed our first rounds hit where we wanted,” McCafferty chimes in.
“Dad, what about hitting multiple targets? I’ve been looking over the systems and we can designate and fire on two separate targets at once. At least if they are in close proximity. We could’ve hit more of the packs when they were in the open if we did that,” Robert says.
“Do you think we’re ready for that?” I ask in return.
“I think we can do it. And we could have accounted for more night runners if we had that going tonight,” he answers.
“You know that if we fuck it up, then we stand the chance of missing the lot of them as we back,” I say.
“I know but I think we can do it,” he replies.
“Okay, you take the fire control crew and run through the systems. Take them through dry runs after we get some sleep. If we decide to head out again tonight, we’ll leave early and practice on the range,” I say.
“Okay, Dad.”
“Anything else?” I ask.
No one replies and we separate, some heading to the showers and others drifting upstairs for a bite to eat. Before leaving the table, I wrap my arm around Bri’s shoulder.
“I just want to say very nice job tonight. You handle those systems like you were born for it. I’m very proud of you,” I say. She looks up and gives me a smile of appreciation.
“Thanks, Dad. It’s not that hard and I love flying with you,” she says.
Her smile warms my heart. I head off to the showers to try and remove some of the stink I’m carrying around with me. It suddenly dawns on me that the reason everyone didn’t talk during the debriefing is because they wanted to get away from my proximity as soon as they could. I can’t say as I blame them much as I’m trying to get away from me just as quick as possible.
The hot water flowing over me not only cleans the grime off but I also feel some of the stress that formed over the past couple of days flow down the drain. I still feel tired but lighter and more refreshed. Finishing, I dress and head upstairs to catch a bite before meeting with the group. I’m then finding my cot and fading off for a year-long sleep.
Sitting with Robert, Bri, and the rest of Red Team, I listen as they tell various war stories; both recent and past. Although the kitchen crew manages to make quite tasty meals, I barely notice as thoughts race through my head. The thoughts are very scattered with none sticking around for very long before being replaced by another. I glance toward the front door and the daylight pouring in through the entrance windows.
I notice, in an abstract manner, the periphery close in. The gray light filtering in seems to zoom into focus and I feel myself rush forward into the light as if speeding through a tunnel. The light vanishes.
“Jack… Jack…Come back, Jack,” I hear Lynn say as if from a distance.
I feel the reverse of what drew me into my reverie; rushing backward through a tunnel. My surroundings slowly resolve and clarity returns. I shake my head clearing the reverie.
“Welcome back,” Lynn says.
“Wow! That was bizarre,” I say, looking down to the half-eaten sandwich sitting in my hand.
“What?” Lynn asks.
“Oh, nothing,” I reply. “Are we ready?”
“Yeah, everyone is gathered,” she answers.
(For the story and world where Jack ventured to during this dream-like state, look for the collaboration novella with Mark Tufo, “A Shrouded World”,where Jack meets Michael Talbot.)
Plodding over to our meeting area, I have Frank bring up a monitor and tape player. I put in the tapes we recorded last night and show them the sudden appearance of the night runners.
“Holy shit!” Drescoll exclaims as the screen turns white in almost the blink of an eye. “There must be thousands of them.”
I look at the rest of our group with their jaws hanging open at the sight. Frank asks for a rewind and plays it in slow motion watching their emergence. He begins taking notes. Several smiles paint the faces of the group as the tape plays forward to our engagements. The flashes and prone bodies are portrayed on the screen in stark detail. I feel a moment of sorrow as these were once humans and, at least on the screen, they don’t look any different. An image of Nic flashes through my head and the sorrow is short-lived. As I said to Bri seemingly so long ago, we can never feel sorrow for these creatures. They are as dangerous a foe as humankind has ever faced. The tape finishes.
“So, it appears the night runners have gathered into much larger packs,” Frank says. “If I were to hazard a guess, those we saw on the screen would pretty much represent the entire number of night runners in the area.”
“Do you really think so?” I ask.
“Well, I want to take a closer look today to get an exact count, but with the percentages we have from the CDC and knowing the previous population, I would say it’s close to the amount we’d expect. I mean, there have been losses but from what I saw, I would say they have all gathered together. I can give a better answer after I look it over,” he answers.
“Okay, let’s look at it another way. How many survivors do you think there really are? Forgive the pun, but what’s your frank assessment?” I ask.
“Like I’ve never heard that one before. Well, again taking the percentages into account against the presumed losses, I would venture there is less than one-half of one percent left. I have been trying to come up with a trend regarding locations for the survivors, but if there is one, I haven’t found it. My best guess, based on the factors of night runner gatherings, is most are in rural areas but we’ve found survivors in the urban districts as well. It may be that we have primarily conducted our searches there. We may want to extend our searches into the rural areas but my feeling is that, seeing the ones in the rural regions will most likely survive longer, we should still concentrate our searches to the urban areas,” he replies.
“What about with the large gathering?” I further ask.
“Well, if they are gathering in hordes like that, I would put the chances of other survivors where they are at close to nil. Those left alive will be found and, with those numbers, will be quickly overrun,” Frank replies.
“And the chances of similar gatherings like those we saw last night?”
“If it’s happening here, then I would say we’d have to expect it elsewhere. It seems to be in their nature to gather. With what we’ve witnessed in our outings, it seems that the night runners gather around a leader. We don’t know how that is chosen. It could be strength, intelligence, or some other factor. If they have gathered together in that large of a pack, then I would guess it would have to be around a very strong leader,” Frank responds.
I think back to the strong ones I felt across a distance a while ago. What he says makes sense. The stronger the leader in the area, the larger the gathering. A thought occurs that if we could locate and take out the leader, then perhaps the pack will scatter. That may not be a good thing though. It may be easier if they gather in one place. Locate that place and we could either attack it in strength from afar or know that the other areas were clear. Of course, if we did take out the pack leader, it may be that another would just step in. We know so little.
“Let’s take it a step farther. What if the night runners we saw last night gathered with the greater numbers in Tacoma and Seattle?” I ask.
I seem to be full of questions but I want everyone’s thoughts. The thought of encountering such a vast number of night runners worries me to no end. And worry is putting it mildly. It scares me
to death. What I saw last night is scary enough. I can’t imagine a horde numbering in the hundreds of thousands. My questions cause silence among us as we ponder the ramifications. We all saw the video and imagine a gathering of ten times that number.
Frank rubs his chin lost in thought. “I don’t see that happening to be honest, Jack,” he eventually says. “From what we’ve seen of the packs before our cameras were destroyed, the night runners seem to be driven by their need to hunt and by the prey nearby. A much larger gathering wouldn’t be able to feed itself. And given area and hunting grounds will only support a certain number of predators depending on the food source available. If they gather in greater numbers, the vicinity will become devoid of prey in a short time. They couldn’t sustain themselves. Now, while they may be able to migrate, they are limited in that ability by their only being able to be out at night. I really don’t see them gathering beyond what we see on the tape and I’m not sure if a pack that size can sustain itself for very long here. It may be that they can, but if that’s so, it certainly won’t be able to support many more.”
What he says is true and makes me feel a little better. “So, the number of night runners we may encounter in a certain area will be determined by the number of prey and by the previous population?” Lynn says.
“That’s my feeling,” Frank states.
“It’s my feeling that we are pushing them back by searching them out at night and by demolishing any buildings that would house them. We definitely saw them being pushed farther to the southeast last night. I feel the need to keep this up but our time is limited. It’s only a matter of time before the jet fuel becomes too contaminated to use and we have to prioritize what we want to do with that time. We are achieving results here but we also made a promise to the soldiers to look for their families. Which priority do we take?” I ask.
“I think we focus on our attacks in the local area,” Horace says. “I think the morale factor will be improved by knowing we are taking action and securing the local neighborhood.”
“I disagree. While I’m in complete agreement with the fact that we are achieving results here, we owe it to the others to do what we said and search for their families. You mentioned morale and I feel that we will be better served by showing we care. And, as you mentioned, Jack, we made a promise,” Drescoll states.
The debate continues with valid points on both sides. I feel we are pushing the night runners out of the area but feel conflicted regarding continuing our attacks versus searching for the families. Yes, we did promise and holding the faith of others is important but where does that promise lie when the safety of others may be in jeopardy. Seeing the vast numbers of night runners last night eroded some of the security I felt we were building.
I mention that we have enough ammo for the 105mm stored at Fort Lewis for leveling the local area but not enough for places like Seattle and the surrounding areas. We don’t have to rely solely on the Spooky as we can use C-4 and maybe learn to use the heavy calibers of the tanks but the AC-130 certainly makes shorter work of it.
We eventually arrive at agreement to continue to use the AC-130 for during the night until Captain Leonard arrives. We’ll then evaluate our progress and priorities at that point. The consensus seems to be to attack for the next couple of nights and then determine our route in the search for families. We all know that time is of the essence and that every day we delay lessens their chance of survival, but our survival here ranks highest on our priority list. Once we have a certain measure of security, we can then head out in our search. Weather will be a contributing factor for heading out across the distances.
I also mention not finding any night runners in the areas we have already demolished and the absence of them around the Fort Lewis and McChord areas.
“That means the hospital will be clear, right?” Drescoll asks. “We could use some of the equipment inside, especially as we have a doctor on board now.”
“I suppose so but just because we didn’t pick any up on the screen doesn’t mean they aren’t there,” I reply.
“Can you sense them if we get close?” He further asks.
“I can try, but as I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t really seem to work that way. It’s more of a hit or miss type of thing. I couldn’t sense much of anything below us tonight and there were a shit ton of them. Of course, the distance may have been a factor but I’m not going to rely on it being an accurate indication,” I respond.
We talk over a few other items and then break for the day. I head off to find my pillow as my eyes are closing on their own. Nodding to Robert and Bri as they trudge toward to their wooden cubicles, I draw the curtains back and barely make it to my cot before collapsing.
Waking early in the afternoon from a deep, restful sleep, I grab a bite and trudge downstairs to the table. Frank meets me and we go over the map marking buildings. I notice he has selected several in the area we visited last night.
“I looked at the tape a few times and marked some of the larger buildings that remain where the night runners ran into last night. The big one here,” he says, pointing to a coliseum of Saint Martin’s College, “is where a majority of them emerged from. I would target it first and before dark. If they are still in there, we could get a number of them while they are still inside.”
“Okay, we’ll concentrate in that area. Good job,” I reply, running my finger along the buildings he’s marked. With his hand covering a wide yawn, Robert joins us.
“Careful,” I say, “you’ll unhinge your jaw.”
“It feels like it,” Robert responds, breaking into another yawn which, of course, becomes contagious.
“Other large groups emerged from these buildings,” Frank says, pointing out other campus buildings, to which Robert and I nod.
“Now here’s the part that you may not like,” Frank continues. “I couldn’t get an accurate count but by my estimate, the numbers we saw last night were over ten thousand and could be as many as fifteen thousand.”
I know we saw a lot on the screen, so many that the screen literally turned white, but I had no idea there were that many. I am literally stunned into silence. Again, the theoretical number that must be out there that we can summon up in our head isn’t like physically seeing that many. It’s like when I’d see something in the news that mentioned a billion dollars. It’s easy to conceptualize because it’s something imaginary, but trying to actually visualize a billion of something is mighty hard to do.
Frank looks at Robert and me staring at the maps with our jaws scraping the ground. “If we take the estimates we found from CDC reports and combine that with the area population, that puts the total number of night runners in the area somewhere around sixty thousand. If we take an attrition percentage from starvation, combat, and other factors, and I don’t even know what number to use, but let’s use a fifty percent attrition factor, then that leaves thirty thousand remaining in the local area. That means those we saw last night only represent half, or less, of those left,” Frank states.
“I can’t imagine what the larger areas like Seattle would be like,” Robert comments.
“What will be interesting is to see whether a pack of this size can stay together considering the food they’ll need. My guess is that they’ll have to migrate to some extent or cover a wide area,” Frank says.
“What about the other fifteen or so thousand in the area? Where do you think they’ll be located and do you think they’ll eventually join up with those we saw last night? As far as that goes, do you think they’ve established other large groups?” I ask.
“I’m not sure to be honest. I’m guessing there were a few that migrated outward into the countryside. I imagine those will be in smaller groups just because there aren’t that many places to house larger packs. And, I have no idea whether they’ll join up or if there are other large groups. For the most part up until now, we’ve only observed small packs of five to seven and larger groups of up to twenty or so. We don’t have any information on how
they group or why, but it does seem they have the tendency to collect together,” Frank answers. “Like I mentioned, they may group together based on prey or leadership. We’ll just have to watch and see.”
The others on the flight crew begin to arrive singly or in small groups. I brief the overall flight for our practice runs up at Fort Lewis and for the night. Robert briefs the systems and changes for selecting and firing on two targets simultaneously. That will be utilizing both the 40mm auto-cannon and gatling gun in unison. The 105mm howitzer will be used for single targets, those being the buildings. With everyone hovering around the large map with the buildings for the night marked, I point out the targets mentioning Frank’s briefing about where the night runners emerged from and his estimate of numbers.
“We’re going to conduct practice runs this afternoon over the ranges, land to refuel and rearm, and then we’re taking off again during daylight to destroy the campus buildings in the hopes of catching those night runners we witnessed last night inside,” I say. Smiles light up around the table thinking of being able to catch that many night runners indoors.
“We’ll then patrol the rest of the evening looking for night runners on the prowl and taking out the remainder of the marked buildings. The weather looks better than last night but we’ll be keeping an eye on it. Be ready as night falls to engage any night runners emerging. Any questions?” I ask. There aren’t any so we gather our gear and fold into the vehicles the same as last night.
Taking off, we circle one of the large Fort Lewis ranges. It takes a while to get the coordination for multiple target selection and firing. After quite a few runs, the crews are able to put their rounds on the selected targets. It’s not as good as when we run the single targets but our rounds eventually impact close to the ones selected. I’m not too sure about using this as our first option, but if the night runners emerge like they did last night, then close is good enough. Our 40mm and 20mm rounds will decimate their ranks. I’m eager to see the devastation we’ll bring upon the night runners. This time, we’ll be ready for their emergence. They kind of took us by surprise last night and, although Robert reacted quickly, we could have taken out a far greater number. Their numbers worry me, okay, scare the shit out of me, and I’m all for reducing those. Zero would be good number.
