by Phil Maxey
* * * * *
Zach lay looking at the flickering light that was emanating from under the rooms door. Abbey was asleep next to him. They had talked for a while about where they were and the need to find out more about their hosts before her eyes got heavy and she relaxed into the pillow next to him. He couldn’t sleep though. He had almost told her about Tinley, and his wish to stop him from getting to Austin, but if he did it meant she would be brought into what he might have to do, and she needed to stay out of it. The hordes of creatures that came almost too close just a few hours earlier flashed through his mind again, together with the fear. Not the fear of death, but the fear that he wouldn’t be able to exact revenge on who was responsible for his families death.
He pushed the images from his mind and instead stilled his thoughts. He was never one for meditation, but he found himself doing exactly that without realizing it. Hopefully the sick they left the camp with would now get the attention they needed and some of them at least would have a chance of living. He had no idea how much there was to this ‘fort’ but Brandon seemed like he had things organized and that hopefully counted for something in this new world.
Sitting up, he put his boots, shirt and jacket on, and headed back down to the lobby. It was empty apart from Bass, who was toasting a bread roll on the fire.
“Why does it always taste better toasted?” Bass said.
“It’s like a caramelization reaction, or something, I dunno, my son told…” Zach smiled. “Me, years back.”
“Never knew you had a son?”
“Yeah.”
Bass sensed Zach’s reluctance to talk anymore about his child and decided to change the subject. “I thought we were goners, back there.”
“It wasn’t looking good before the chopper arrived. Did you see what kind it was?”
“Looked like an old Huey, real Nam type, with a mini-gun.”
“Be interesting to see what else they got here.”
Zach sat down. “The vet’s stepped up. I think we got ourselves some fighters there.”
Bass smiled. “You better believe it.”
They both sat for a moment enjoying the fire and a partial feeling of normality. A pickup pulled up outside and Brandon appeared with flakes of snow still sticking to hit winter hat.
He pulled off his gloves. “Got room near that fire?”
CHAPTER 9
Zach stood waiting for Brandon outside the Inn. The sun was just beginning to illuminate the mist that meant you couldn’t see more than a hundred yards, and was accompanied with a silence that led credence to the idea that world had ended. The night before, he, Bass and Brandon sat and talked for hours. They learned that Brandon and Alyssa had been running their prepper shop in another part of Oregon for twenty years and had been ready for the ‘Crunch’ as Brandon called the Cascade, long before it actually took place. But even they weren’t prepared for the C.C’s or crazy critters as he called them, and they soon realized that their B.O.L. or bug out location wasn’t going to enable them any kind of protection from an onslaught. ‘We always figured it would be humans we would have to defend against, not man-sized bat’s and spider things as big as a car!’ They had vacationed a few years earlier in this location near Mt. Hood and thought it would be a good spot to try and make a stand. They also realized that they weren’t going to make it alone. ‘Preppers tend to be more about doing their own thing, but as we traveled to here we picked up other survivors. We wouldn’t have made it without all of us working together.” The smaller internal wall went up first, which protected a number of homes and important buildings, and then soon after the external wall was added which expanded the area to include the Inn and highway.
Zach had relayed his own story of how he and the others left New Mexico and eventually made it to the camp near Austin. And then what had happened over the previous week in getting to the Portland camp. Zach wondered how Brandon would take the fact that some of the group that had arrived were previously in a military jail, but he hadn’t flinched when learning of the information. The fact that they knew Brad seemed to count for a lot. Afterwards he had talked a little with Fiona, who he found at the end of the corridor upstairs, staring out into night, watching the snow fall. They agreed that they would stay here for a day or two before heading back out.
Brandon told Zach he would show him around the fort today, and to be outside at sun up. As he waited in the icy morning cold, he paced back and forth, trying not to think about Tinley’s journey to the other camp, and that while he was here there was nothing he could do to stop it. The sound of crushed snow and ice came from the right, and Brandon’s pickup drove slowly down the road and into the parking lot of the Inn.
Brandon pushed open the pickups door. “The heaters on.” Zach jumped in. “You slept?”
“I did,” he lied.
Brandon drove them back the way he came to the inner gate. This one was smaller than the external, standing only twenty-feet high, but still looked substantial.
Zach noticed some claw marks in the wood. “How often do you get attacked?”
“It varies, but it’s slowed down recently. Nowadays, maybe a few times a week, that’s down from a few times a day months back.”
“You did well to survive.”
Brandon smiled. “Well they don’t call us survivalists for nothing.”
They drove past rows of two story homes, all with boarded up windows. Brandon noticed Zach looking at them. “We quickly learned that having glass windows wasn’t much of a defense, so we boarded them all up. We’re slowly converting them to open up, but right now there’s not much light in these homes.”
“How often do you go on supply runs?”
“Once a month. Mostly to get medical supplies. Everything else we can take care of. We have fresh running water from the creak. For fuel we burn wood, obviously we have a ready supply of that.”
“What about food?”
“We have a few warehouses full of food, and we will be planting crops in the spring. We also have another source.”
Zach looked at Brandon, unsure of what he meant.
“That’s the first place I’m going to show you.”
They drove past some stores, and then pulled down a small side street, stopping outside a single story plain looking building with no windows and just one door.
As they got out of the truck, a man came out of the building and walked up to Brandon. “Got at least a few weeks worth in there.”
Brandon turned to Zach. “This is Tyrone, our head chef, he’s in charge of making sure there’s enough food to go round.”
Zach smiled and Tyrone waved, then got into another pickup. Brandon held the door open, and they both went inside. Instantly the smell hit Zach. The sweet, foul smell of fresh meat. Brandon led them both down a small corridor, and through another door to a room that was even colder than the outside. One light lit a small area with a series of hooks suspended from the ceiling, and hanging off them were skinned pieces of E.L.F’s.
Zach felt revulsion of seeing the unnatural things swinging against each other. “You eat them? How do you know it’s safe?”
Brandon walked over to one of the slabs of exotic meat and put his hand on it. “Before man dropped the first seeds, we were hunters. If it looks vaguely like how animals used to look, we kill it and see what the meat is like.”
“Why you showing me this?”
“If you or any of your group want to stay here, then you need to know how we do things. We can’t force you to eat this if you don’t want, but sooner or later you might have too.”
Zach wanted to tell him that he had no plans on staying for too long, but maybe the idea they might stay longer was what was helping them get such a good welcome. The idea of eating one of those things, turned his stomach, but he also saw the sense in it, if the creatures were not poisonous.
“I understand, I’ll tell the rest.”
Brandon patted him on the back. “Good. Now let me know show you the rest
of our town.”
Instead of getting back into Brandon’s pickup, they left it where it was and trekked though compacted snow out onto the main street. Across from where they were was a large sign “Seth’s store.” Brandon headed for it.
A tall man with greying hair and a cap on was shoveling snow away from the front entrance. “Hey Brandon.”
“Hey Seth, we had quite a fall overnight.”
“Yeah, but maybe it keeps the CC’s away.”
“Maybe. This here’s Zach, he’s part of the new group that came in yesterday.”
Seth stepped off the front steps and shook Zach’s hand. “Heard you had some bad business at the landslide.”
“Would have been a lot of worse if it weren’t for Brandon and his people.”
Brandon smiled. “We got some good meat out of it!”
Seth waved at Zach’s camouflage pants. “You were part of the military?”
“Still am, I’m Captain Zach Felton, from the camp near Austin.”
“We heard the camps were all gone? Destroyed by bomb or creature.”
“They are, apart from the camp near Austin, they’re holding out.”
Seth gave a surprised nod.
“How’s Eleanor?” said Brandon.
“She’s getting by, we think the infection is under control, but time will tell. You know what she’s like.”
Brandon smiled. “Sure do. Okay, I better be off, I’ll catch you at the meeting later.”
Brandon then led Zach back across the street to a large flat area between buildings, sitting on the ground were two helicopters. An older Huey and a newer sleeker model from the 90’s which was covered in bright red and yellow stripes. Around the outside, a small group of men, some with hardhats and tools were constructing something made of wood.
Brandon smiled. “This is our airport, as you can see it’s still being built. The Huey came with a prepper from down south, he brought his family up here in it. That mini-gun has saved our hides on more than one occasion. The other was a rescue chopper that ran around these parts, used to save stranded skiers on the mountain.”
“Where do you get the ammo for the mini-gun?”
“That’s also where these beauties help out, we make a flight to a military base once a month to pick up what we can. The Huey acts as fighter escort from the other.”
This is a smart setup. Zach nodded in appreciation.
Brandon’s radio crackled and he clicked it on. Zach turned and looked out over Main Street as more of the towns people started to emerge, when his own radio came to life with Fiona’s voice. He clicked it on.
“You there, Zach. Over?”
“Yes.”
“We have a problem.”
Zach was about to reply, when he noticed Brandon’s voice sounded concerned and he had stopped talking.
He looked at Zach. “We better head back to the pickup.”
CHAPTER 10
Cal sat watching the water in the stream trickle over clear ice. His breath was still visible even though he now had a chance to rest for a while. Running from the fort hadn’t been the plan, when he lay his head on the pillow in the room with Fiona, but as he tried to sleep the drumming in his mind started up again, and he knew he had to get away. Not for himself, but for those around him. He couldn’t trust that what happened all those years ago in Afghanistan wouldn’t happen again. So he had to leave. He felt bad for the young guy he had to take down at the north wall, but he had spotted him climbing over, and if he hadn’t quietened him, and if he was brought back, more might have been hurt, it was a sacrifice that had to be made.
Out here amongst the mist, trees and ice, his mind felt somewhat at peace and the drumming had dulled. When they left Camp Bravo he had felt optimistic about what lay ahead. Even knowing the world he knew before his incarnation had gone, and that creatures from the darkest of imaginations had lay waste to the cities and it’s peoples, he felt a sense of freedom that went beyond just being free of his cell.
He checked through his backpack at what little supplies he had, and took out his water bottle. Leaning forward he filled it with ice-cold water, taking a sip, then placed it back in his pack. Looking up he figured if he kept heading to the right of the sun he would be going in a roughly westerly direction, and hopefully that would take him past the mountain to any nearby towns. He didn’t rate his chances very high of surviving the forest, but he also knew there was no going back.
* * * * *
As Brandon and Zach pulled up in front of the large two-story building, a few men were waiting outside. Zach went to get out, when Brandon stopped him.
“Best you stay here. I’ll be back out as soon as I can.”
Zach watched him walk up to the men, who angrily waved in Zach’s direction. He put his hand on one of the men’s shoulders, and pushed him towards the door of the building. Standing in the doorway was a dark haired woman in her forties, with her arms wrapped around herself. The man that was angry seconds before walked up to her and hugged her, they all then disappeared inside.
Zach had learned from Brandon that one of Zach’s group had attacked one of their men who was on patrol. A young guy by the name of Jason, and that he was in a bad way. Fiona had also informed him that Cal was missing.
Zach clicked on his radio. “Fiona, you there. Over.”
“I’m here, what’s the situation with the young guy. Over.”
“No idea, but from the reaction of those here, not good. Over.”
“I can’t believe Cal would do that.”
Zach went to say something then stopped. His mind went back to the conversation he had with Morgan in the fire station a few days before. Should have listened.
Before Zach’s mind returned to where he was, Fiona continued talking. “I’m going out after him. Michael’s coming too. Over.”
“Fiona, I know you and Cal are close, but if he’s out there, there’s a good chance he’s never coming back. And even if we found him, how do you think the people in this town would treat him? Who knows how they deal with people who attack their own,” no sound came from the radio. “You there? Over.”
“Me and Michael are going, it’s up to you if you want to come or not.”
Zach swore under his breath. “Fine, I’ll return to the Inn, pick up some stuff then we will head out. Over.”
Fiona acknowledged his request, then he got out of the pickup, and started running back down the hill and towards the inn. He soon got to the first gate, which was manned by two men, one with a beard who was overweight, and another skinnier older guy.
“I need to pass through,” said Zach to the man with the beard, who stood in front of the gate as he saw Zach approaching.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Zach walked closer to the man. “I don’t care what you think is a good idea, I need to get to the Inn.”
The bearded man looked anxiously to his friend, and then fumbled in his pocket, pulling out his radio and clicking it on.
“Brandon, you there? Over,” Brandon’s voice came through just loud enough to be recognized but not understood by Zach. “He’s here at the gate, wants to get through to the Inn.” More garbled talk came through the radio’s speaker. “”You sure? Over.” After a sigh, the bearded man, told the other they need to open the gate, and Zach passed through, running uneasily over snow covered rocks and back down to the parking area of the Inn. Fiona and Michael were already standing in the entrance, both wrapped in winter clothing with backpacks on their backs. Abbey was also there wearing similar attire.
Zach ran up to her first. “No, three of us are enough to find him, Abbey.”
“He’s one of us, Zach.”
“I know, but I need you back here, to try and keep everything from getting worse than it already is. If there’s anyone that can keep the towns folk here from losing their heads, it’s you.”
Her expression turned angry. “You keep shutting me out, like you forget I was stuck in that hell hole for ye
ars too, I need to do this.”
He knew he had no choice but to agree.
“Wait. Three? I’m coming as well, Cal’s my friend,” said Michael trying to suppress his anger.
Zach turned to him. “Michael, I need people here that I can trust. If it goes wrong with the kid that Cal took down, you and Bass will need to take care of whoever they throw out of this place.”
Michael shook his head, but remained silent. Zach then ran inside, Bass was at the bottom of the stairs.
“You going after him? You sure that’s a good idea?” said Bass.
Zach stopped and sighed before talking. “We have to try. I’ll need you to keep a lid on any hotheads in our group, and try and keep things calm with the town’s people, especially if it doesn’t go well for the young guy. Offer them more of our supplies, whatever it takes.”
Bass nodded.
“There’s still a good six hours of sunlight left, and I’ll try and bring us all back before dark. But if we’re not back by this time tomorrow, we’re not coming back. Then it’s going to be up to you, to decide what happens next,” Zach went to walk away when he stopped. “If the worse happens…well, Austin’s a long way, this place isn’t too bad.”
Zach ran up to the room, grabbed his backpack, helmet and gun, then ran back down to the lobby. Fiona, Abbey and Michael were still at the entrance, but now they were joined by Brandon and some other men.
