by WR Peden
“Do you have any objections to going out there and getting dirty if needed? We are looking for scouts that are willing to go out with small patrols such as the one Sgt. Meeks runs that can go from area to area and helping any willing survivors while finding supply caches and just a general impression of the different areas.” ZED inquires.
“I would enjoy that, would I be on my own individual crew or would I be attached to the soldiers,” I ask.
“Well considering your familiarization with Sgt. Meeks, I will attach you to his unit, however, as you are not an official member of the Soldiers I will not require you to be in BDU’s but I would request that you mark your outfit and equipment with the Soldier's skull logo.” ZED responds.
“Done, Thank you, sir. Anything else?” I ask before leaving his office.
ZED shakes his head no, so I turn around and walk out of the office and down the hall, taking one last look down the hallway to the secured room. I make my way back to the front of the building, walk through the metal detector and look at the soldier from earlier.
“Can I get my stuff back” I snidely ask.
The guard grabs the container with all my items in it and slides it across the table to me. I put all my stuff up and make sure that all of my magazines and ammunition is accounted for. I put a magazine back into the pistol and rack it one time to ensure its loaded and ready to go. As I walk out the front, I see Sgt. Meeks and his crew hanging out near the side of the building. I go to leave, stop and turn around and walk over to him.
“Hey, Sgt. I guess I'm a new addition being attached to your scouting crew.” I inform Meeks.
“Welcome aboard young man, it's a hell of a scene out there, are you sure you're going to be able to make it?” Asks Meeks.
“Won't be an issue, Sir. What time do you guys head out.” I ask.
“We usually leave at sun up, Here take this so you can set an alarm.” Sgt. Meeks says as he hands me a watch.
“Thank you, well I'm going to go take in the sites around here and see what there is around St. Zachery.” I say as I turn around and borrow one of the Humvees as I leave the headquarters area.
Instead of turning towards the way we came, I decide to go exploring like I already informed Sgt. Meeks. I drive around for a little while recognizing some of the base but noticing it has changed quite a bit and looks like it was air bombed at some point recently. I continue driving around until I run into a gate across the road with a sign that reads “Restricted Area, Authorized Personnel Only.” I look around and see a couple of buildings with limited personnel in the distance just barely within eyesight but not close enough to make out any detail.
I make note of this location and head back out of the area back towards my camp area. After making it back into the community area I start looking around and noticing it running like a small town complete with a market, convenience store, law enforcement and what looks like an armory. Fortunately for me, I have scavenged quite a bit of artillery on my voyage up here and decide to head back to camp to see if DJ has returned. I pull into the parking lot and don't see DJ around. I walk down to the tent to check but still no sign of him and everything is still there including his bat which is odd as he has taken to it.
“Have you seen the other guy who came with me today?” I ask Mike again as I pop my head back out of the tent.
“No I have not but I haven’t been out here all morning.” He replied.
Where could he have gone I think to myself. I grab a few snacks from the tent, and fill both of our bags with all mini arsenal and head back to my truck. I climb in and head towards the main entrance. I'm stopped as I go to the exit.
“Halt, where are you going?” Asks the guard at the exit.
I roll down the window, look around. “Well it looks like I'm trying to go look for my family. I know I'm a scout but I'm not working at the moment so if you would kindly move I will be on my way. Don't worry I'll be back.” I say in a smartass tone.
The guard rolls his eyes and moves out of the way as he mutters something under his breath as I drive past him and down the ramp. I drive down the road, turn around and head back towards what was left of the old town, not behind the walls. I look up the road and see a wall of zombies straight ahead blocking any further traveling. I stop, grab my bag and pull out my pistol and shotgun making sure they are both loaded. I roll my window down and lay the barrel of the shotgun in the hole between the side mirror and truck. I prop it up on the door and get ready to fire. I slam on the gas gathering speed every inch until I'm right next to the group. I stomp on the brakes, turn the wheel to the left causing a whipping motion with the truck, slamming the bed of the truck into the wall of zombies as it fishtails around. Midway through the turn I slam on the gas again causing me to continue the spin and as I become parallel with the line I pull the trigger on the shotgun and send a blast into the wall. I then turn the wheel in the opposite direction to gain control once again and hit the gas to take advantage of the gap I have created.
I continue through the gap and up the road for about another mile and take the open on-ramp into the old town. From previous experiences, I know this road use to lead to the original front gate of the base and my curiosity has gotten the best of me as I want to try and get a better angle on the area. I turn right at the top of the ramp and start to navigate the road as it looks like a war zone on the road with holes, bodies, cars and anything you can think of in and on the roadway. I get a ways down the road and notice an almost untouched fast food restaurant with its hat sign still erect. I chuckle and continue down the road until I get near the original gate. I slowly approach expecting the unexpected. As I creep towards the gate in the truck, much to my surprise they’re in no security, no one around and even more surprising no undead.
I continue on through looking around at the war-zone like atmosphere all around. After driving around for a little while, I approach a fence line with the same warning on it as the one earlier. In the near distant I see the familiar skull and gas mask with the biohazard eyes symbol on a building. From my military experiences, I know that these fences can be electrified pretty easily. I park the truck and get out, grab a small rock and throw it at the fence. It smashes against the fence but doesn't cause an arc or any other sounds besides the initial contact. I look around again to make sure I didn’call any surprises then walk to the fence. I pull on it trying to find a weak area. With no luck, I look around and see the fence butts up to a building down the way a little. I go get back into the truck and head down near the building. Not wanting to get caught I pull the truck into the alley between two buildings. I turn the truck off, hide my bag of weapons and lock up the truck.
I come out of the alley and head to the fence again looking for a weak spot. Again no luck without making an obvious hole in the fence. After looking around and unsuccessfully finding access inside the fence I go to the front door of the house butted against the fence. I try it as it opens right up. As I walk in I am startled by a dead body lying in the hallway. I walk over to it and kick it to see if it's undead or not. With no reaction or noises, I go back and shut the front door then begin to look around. After looking around for a few minutes I notice this use to be an office but has been converted to what was supposed to be a safe haven. I continue to investigate all the rooms downstairs and find various supplies from bedding to food but no signs of a struggle. I then decide to go check out the upstairs. As I get to the top of the stairwell I notice all the signs of the struggle I was looking for downstairs.
As soon as I turn the corner I am attacked by a decaying human falling into me. I start to fight it off of me while trying to prevent it from biting me. Just as I start to get the upper hand I trip on a homemade barricade and follow over it landing on top of the undead flesh of what use to be a human being. I sit up in a mixed martial arts style mount position and start viciously punching it in the face causing indentation into its already weaken bone structure. With every couple of hits chunks of
flesh fly off the bones and splatter around the hallway. I thought about just shooting him but was afraid of alerting anyone so instead, I continue to punch it until its face resembles a freshly tenderized piece of meat. With my adrenaline pumping I get up off the now pulverized zombie and start looking around again, this time looking around every corner just in case anything else is lurking around. As I am searching around one of the rooms I notice the building I saw outside. I head to the window and look out. I notice movement just outside the building but it's just far enough out that I can't see.
I look around the room for a pair of binoculars, a scope or anything that can help me see at a distance. Unfortunately for me, I cannot find anything and know that I don't have anything in the truck that would help. I continue to look out the window and notice trucks coming and going on a frequent basis all entering and exiting from the opposite side of the area, closer to the headquarters area. I watch for a little while longer then decide to check the last room upstairs before heading out. As I enter the room the first thing I notice is the slightly shifted bookcase that appears to be out of the norm. I walk in and go over to the bookcase, move it and reveal a hidden safe room behind the case but it has been ransacked and has absolutely nothing left. Feeling bummed about that I head out back downstairs and out of the house, shutting the door behind me as I walk over to the truck. As I get back into the truck I start thinking about what could be going on in the fence and running through a variety of ideas and thoughts as I drive back towards camp. The sun starts to go down just as I make the on ramp back to camp. I make it back to the gate, the guard looks in and around and waves me on through as I make my way back to camp.
I pull into camp, parking in front of the tent, turn the truck off just as DJ pops his head out of the tent.
“Where have you been” DJ asks.
“I went out looking around after having a meeting with ZED earlier. Where did you run off to today?” I reply.
“O, I met a group of people and were helping them get some communication back up at least for the community. I have experience in this field and felt obligated to try and help.” He answers.
“That is great DJ, I found an area we can go investigate later on. I am also a scout for Sgt. Meeks’ team and will be heading out in the morning with them.” I inform DJ as I walk into the tent.
We sit in the tent and talk for quite a while as he tells me about their communication setup and plans as I inform him of the restricted area I found and the building nearby which has gained his intrigue as well. We continued talking for most of the evening until we fall asleep.
Chapter 7
I wake up the next morning to my watch going off from the alarm I set. I get up, stretch and gather a few supplies while I wait for the team to show up. I sit down and eat a couple of power bars for breakfast just as I hear the, oh so familiar sound of humvees approaching so I head out of the tent, leaving the truck keys with DJ. I head up the hill and climb in as one of the soldiers hands me a M16 semi-automatic assault rifle as I was only carrying my pistol.
“Good morning sunshine. Are you ready? We are going to head east and see what we can find.” Sgt. Meeks ask as he addresses me.
“Yes Sir, I looked around the old town after I left headquarters yesterday and it looks like a warzone out there. What happened?” I inquire.
“Long story, but let's just say ZED has saved a lot of lives by doing what he had to in order to create St. Zachery and the Soldiers of ZED.
I nod and just continue to look out the window as we start our way down the interstate picking up speed as we go. We are the middle humvee in the convoy when suddenly I hear the sound of a mounted 50 caliber machine gun let loose from the humvee in front of us as we suddenly come to a stop. The soldier next to me opens his door and opens fire as he jumps out so I open my door, jump out in a tactical stance using the door as a shield as well. I quickly pop my head around to take a quick look at what's going on in front of me. The sight in front of me was astonishing, there were a couple hundred zombies in front of us. This was the largest group I have seen in one area. It even appeared to be larger than the attack at the gas station where I met the Constantine and the others. I pull my M16 up look down the scope and start firing single shots hitting the zombies in between the eyes dropping them like a carnival shooting game. As I go left and right popping them I get this feeling that someone is just staring at me. I stop firing for a moment, look around and that's when I notice one if the soldiers just staring at me seemingly mesmerized by my accuracy and ability. I start to look back at the horde when I recognize one of the zombies in the distance to the right of us. With no hesitation, I sling my M16 over my shoulder and take off towards it as the entire crew is screaming and yelling at me but I disregard it all as I only have one focus at this moment. As I get closer I notice the distinctive short height, the curly yet now falling out red hair, and can't help but burst into tears.
“This can't be real” I yell out as I look at the sky as I continue to run over to her taking out the other zombies in my way.
“Hey” I yell to her with no response as I close the gap. “Over here” I yell again. This time she slowly turns toward me, her arms down by her side, head tilted, face decaying. I stop dead in my tracks, drop to my knees.
“Oh my God, no.” I cry out “Why, Why her lord.”
At this point, I have completely forgotten my surroundings and feel like my entire body has sunk into a concrete quicksand-like pit. I just sit there watching as she gets closer freezing in place. Suddenly I hear the sound of a rifle firing behind me as I watch a portion of my loved one's leg sever causing her to slam into the ground. I hear my name being yelled out but can't seem to muster an answer in my trance as I watch her start to crawl near me, reaching out to me for help. This trance of emotions I'm in keeps me locked as she crawls closer and closer to me. I watch uncontrollably as her decaying hand grabs my leg and starts using me to pull herself up my leg. This is not the woman I grew up with, this is not the grandmother I loved. Out of nowhere, I hear another shot ring out as her head explodes with pieces of flesh and blood splattering all around including on me. A couple of the Soldiers walk up, grab me underneath my arms and start to drag me back to the vehicle. They position me up against our Humvee and start opening fire on the horde yet again. I get my composure again, put the emotions behind, grab my weapon and start on the attack again acting as if nothing has just happened.
After what seemed like an eternity and thousands of bullets later, the shooting finally stopped as the last of the horde drops to the ground. Sgt. Meeks marches over to me.
“What the hell was that son” He yells
“Sorry about that, I was not prepared to see my Grandmother as one of these things,” I respond in a raspy voice. “She isn’t even from here she lives in Crocker. That’s who I was on my way to see when I was ran off the road.” I continued to explain.
“Oh hell, I'm sorry about that kid. It’s hard and I sometimes forget some of you all have not experienced this side of things and haven’t been out here since it started.” He explains.
“It makes it worse because we were on our way to see her the last time I had my family with me. I don’t really know what happened as last I remember I was driving then next thing I know I woke up in the hotel.” I tell Sgt. Meeks, knowing full well there is more to the story as I did have that flashback the other day and seeing this patch.
“Sorry about your loss, but I will tell you it could get worse. Let me know if you can't handle it, you have some serious skill with that rifle and we would hate to lose you but we have to work together.” Sgt. Meeks apologizes.
“It won't happen again Sarge,” I respond as I throw my rifle over my shoulder.
I walk back to one of the Humvees in the back along with the soldiers and reload our ammunition and gather extra magazines and rounds as the day is just beginning. We all go back, load back up and head down the road again.
“Where did
you learn to shoot like that?” Asks the Soldier sitting next to me.
“I was in the Marine Corps. Hey, I did want to thank you all for saving me back there when I froze.” I respond
“Oh that's nothing, It happens to the best of us. Especially if it's a family member.” He responds. “So what brings you out this way?”
“Well, I’m looking for my family. We were headed up to Crocker, but I can't remember anything other than running off the road then waking up at the hotel in Lebanon.” I answer
With that look of guilt on his face, he begins to speak. “I remember you, you're the one Sarge found by that gas station out there. Well glad to see you make it up this way and I hope you find your family, it must be devastating being around here with no knowledge of them being alive or their whereabouts.”
I just shake my head and stare back out the window of the humvee as we continue to patrol. We continue for a couple of hours stopping to clear zones every so often making our way to Jerome before head back towards the base. As we got closer we took the first exit and followed the familiar path I did to the fence. We did a perimeter search around the fence as we drove looking for holes or anything out of the ordinary. The convoy stopped outside the building I found the evening prior. I started to ponder how much they knew about the building but without anyone checking or saying anything we continued on down the fence line until we got to a checkpoint midway down. The convoy halted and Sgt. Meeks proceeded to the gate guard, spoke with him for a few then walked inside the fence. Sarge climbed into a jeep and drove down toward the building I noticed yesterday evening. The rest of the convoy got out and started bullshitting around while we waited.
“What's back there?” I asked in a curious manner.
“Don't know something above my rank.” One of the soldiers responds.
“I heard that they have some z’s in there that they are doing tests and all trying to find a cure.” Another responds.
