by Thonas Rand
“I’m Ardent Keller, and a man with your talents is welcome to stay, that is, if you’re willing to help out and be part of the group?”
“Help out with what, sir?”
“We’re preparing to get out of here in a day or two,” Ardent told him.
“Preparing to go where?”
“To a ranch in Oregon.”
“That sounds nice, but what if I don’t wanna go?”
“That’s your choice, Son, but be advised, when we leave here…we’re blowing the back gate of this place and those things will get in.”
“I see,” John said and gave it some thought. “Then I guess I’m your man, sir.”
“Excellent,” Ardent said. “You a soldier or a marine?”
“Marine? Negative, sir. Army Ranger out of Fort Benning.”
“Fort Benning?” Bear said. “How’s that fort doing?”
“Since I’m here and not there,” John said, “not good. It’s gone, along with every other base in the country.”
Lauren was at the back of the group, she took a long look at John, and he noticed her looking, but ignored her.
“So, this back gate that you’re gonna exit through—what are you leaving in?” John asked.
“A boat,” Tom said.
“In the channel behind the hospital?” John said.
“That’s right,” Derek said.
“Is it deep enough?” John asked.
“We hope so,” Bear said.
“Hope?” John said. “There’s a word I haven’t heard in a while.”
“Well, that’s all we got,” Bear said.
“Why not leave now?” John asked. “Why wait a day or two?”
“We’re in the middle of fixing the boat’s motors,” Ardent told him. “We might be done today or tomorrow, at the latest.”
“Okay, sir,” John said and walked off.
“Where you going?” Bear asked him.
“To check the perimeter.”
“It’s secure,” Tom told him.
John kept on walking. “You know that, but I don’t.”
He was gone out the front doors.
“We’re just gonna let this guy in here?” Alan said. “He’s gonna want to use our supplies and—”
“Shut up, Alan!” Tom said.
John looked at Tom’s eighteen-wheeler as he walked by on his way to the front gate. He examined the way the gate had been reinforced and decided that was fine and moved on, but not before he flipped-off the undead just outside the gate. He walked along the hospital wall, starting on the south side, checking it for weaknesses and stress cracks, but he didn’t see any. When he got to the wall near the side of the hospital, though, something caught his attention close to the wall: the cigar-shaped thirty-feet-long by ten-feet-wide sinkhole he stood in that was pointed toward the front wall. John looked at it closely, and then he stuck a knife in the ground at the edge of it, the edge that was pointed at the front wall. He moved on to the back of the hospital.
There was a seven-foot tall metal security gate on the side of the hospital that separated the front courtyard from the back parking lot and it was locked tight, so John climbed it easily, military-style, and proceeded toward the back.
Ardent and Bear were back at the boat, trying to finish up the first motor. They saw John walking the wall, and Bear gave him the eye. “Do you think we can trust that guy?” Bear asked.
“I wouldn’t worry about him,” Ardent said.
“Really? Why not?”
“Look at him…” Ardent said. “He’s a soldier, a lifer. He’s like us—honorable.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Bear said as he watched John look at the explosive charges on the back gate.
John made his way to them. “This is the boat, huh?”
“This is it,” Ardent answered as he tightened a bolt on the engine.
“If it’s all the same to you, sir,” John said, “I’ll swim alongside you than be in this rusted piece of shit.”
“It’s all we got, soldier,” Ardent said.
“Is the hull intact?” John asked.
“It is.”
“How’s the engine work coming?”
“Good, we should be done with this one in an hour or two,” Bear informed him.
“You need any help?” John offered.
“We’re fine, John, thanks,” Ardent said.
“So who did the explosives job on the gate?” John asked.
“I did,” Bear said. “Why?”
“I know I’m the new guy, but we need to be prepared if those things get in here before we’re ready to leave,” John said.
“True, what are you thinking?” Ardent asked.
“Do you have any more explosives?”
“Tom is the man to see about that,” Bear told him.
“Tom?”
“The guy wearing the baseball cap,” Bear said. “The trailer in front of the hospital is his.”
“Okay,” John answered and walked off to check the rest of the wall.
On the other side of the hospital, John had to scale a second security gate to get to the front again, and as he walked between the outer wall and the wall of the north wing—a scent caught his attention—he looked up the wall of the north wing; there were a few small windows twenty feet off the ground, all of which were closed, and then John saw a door ahead of him. He tried it, but it was locked tight. He took some whiffs at the door—he smelled something, but he wasn’t sure as to what it was. He dismissed it for now and moved on to check out the rest of the outer wall. Once he finished and was satisfied that it was secure, he headed to Tom’s trailer.
Tom was working on a set of the PVC armor when John approached. “Hey, you’re Tom, right?”
“Guilty as charged, John. How can I be of service?”
“The guys told me that you’re the man to see about explosives,” John said as he looked at everything in Tom’s trailer. “And judging by what I’m looking at, it seems true.”
Tom smiled. “Yeah, it is. What do you need?”
“We need to be ready if those things get in here before we leave,” John explained. “So if you can spare some, I’d like to set up a grid of explosives in the back of the hospital.”
“Smart idea. Come aboard.”
John followed Tom to the explosive cabinet, he opened it and John saw what he had, which was a lot, including what John wanted—claymore anti-personnel mines. “Outstanding,” John said.
“Take what you need,” Tom offered.
“Thank you, sir.”
Tom laughed. “Don’t call me ‘sir,’ John. I’m not in the military, and I’m not your father. Just call me ‘Tom.’”
“Okay, Tom. Thanks.”
John gathered what he needed, which was a crate of landmines, remote detonator caps, and a remote detonator for them. Anthony was playing video games in his room when he heard John and came out.
“John, would you like a set of this PVC armor? It protects you against any scratches or bites from those things,” Anthony offered.
“Sure, kid, maybe later.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make it for you,” Anthony said.
“Cool, thanks.” John said. “Hey, do you wanna help me set up these claymores?”
“Hell yes!”
“Let’s go then.” John said.
• • •
A while later in the midmorning sun, John and Anthony were setting up the claymores in the back parking lot. They had placed a row of six mines along the back of the hospital, at about twenty-five feet apart and fifteen feet from the building. The explosive charges were faced toward the hospital. They were finishing the last one and John was tutoring Anthony. “Okay, you watched me do the first five, now you do the next one,” John said.
“No problem.”
Anthony grabbed a mine and unfolded the mounting scissor legs; he inserted the explosive into the ground until it was firmly secure. After that, he adjusted the mine to make sure that it was pointed properly fo
r the optimal damage, and finally, he activated the remote cap in the detonator well.
He was done.
“How’s that?” he asked John.
He checked his work, “Nicely done, better than most recruits that I’ve seen.”
“Awesome,” Anthony said with a smile.
Then they heard Ardent and Bear trying to turn over the boat motor that they had reassembled. It sputtered dead on the first try, and then Bear tried the ignition again. The engine stuttered as Bear held the key in place and finally, the engine roared to life, they had fixed it. Something else also roared to life—the infected outside the back gate were going nuts over the engine noise. Dozens of them began pounding on the gate.
Ardent heard them. “Kill it, Bear.”
Bear turned the engine off and the noise of the dead took over.
“I guess that was a bad idea,” Bear said about the undead at the back gate.
“We had to test it,” Ardent said.
“Yeah, and now we can fix the other one.”
Tom came out the back doors of the hospital. “Did I hear a working boat engine?”
“You did,” Ardent told him.
“Great, when do you think you’ll get the other one working?”
“Maybe by today, if not, then by tomorrow morning,” Bear said.
“Tom, we should start loading the boat,” Ardent told him.
“Good idea,” Tom agreed.
“It’s your call,” Ardent said. “But I think the load should be sixty percent food and water, with the rest being weapons, ammo and tools.”
“That sounds about right,” said Tom.
“Okay then, ask Derek, Milla, and Lauren to help you.”
“I’m on it,” Tom said and walked over to John and Anthony. “That looks good, guys,” he said regarding the mines.
“Yeah, I still have a few, so we’re gonna put some at the front of the hospital, too,” John answered. “But you wouldn’t happen to have a heavy machine gun that we can set up out here for extra cover, would you?”
“Come with me; I have something to show you,” Tom told him.
“Alright,” John answered.
John and Anthony went with Tom; they entered the back doors and headed down the long corridor toward the front. As they did—John noticed the entrance to the north wing that was just about in the center of the corridor, he stopped and tried the doors, but they were locked.
“There’s nothing in there, it’s just an empty wing,” Tom told him.
“Then why are the doors locked?” John wondered.
“You’re gonna have to ask Doc Ceraulo,” Tom said. “His office is in there, and he’s just a little anal, in case you haven’t noticed.”
John took a whiff at the doors.
“What’re you doing?” Anthony asked.
“Nothing,” John answered, and he tried to open them again but with more force. The locked doors rattled hard, but they wouldn’t open. John stepped back and was about to kick them open, but stopped to—
“Can I help you?” Ceraulo said from down the corridor.
“Maybe,” John said and pointed to the doors. “What’s in there?”
Ceraulo walked over in a slight hurry. “What’s in there? Nothing, it’s empty,” Ceraulo said.
“Then you wouldn’t mind if I take a look,” John said and prepared to kick the doors in.
“Don’t do that!” Ceraulo said, and he stepped in front of the doors.
“Why not?” John asked.
“The nonessential parts of the hospital are locked up in case any of the dead manage to get in from the outside, so they won’t be able to get into the main building through these doors.” Ceraulo explained in annoyance. “And that won’t work if you kick in the doors, now will it?”
“So unlock it for me,” John asked.
“I don’t have the key.”
“But I thought your office is in there?” John said.
“It is, but I don’t have the key right now.”
“Then who does?” John asked.
“Alan does.”
“Okay, thanks, Doc.” John said.
The three of them left, while Ceraulo watched them walk away.
Inside trailer, John stood there as Tom pulled the cover off a large weapon. He was quiet as he looked at it.
“What do you think?” Tom asked.
John didn’t say anything, just smiled.
“I think he likes it,” Anthony said.
John eyes gazed upon a military Mark 19 grenade launcher, which was just like a machine gun, but it fired 40 mm explosive projectiles.
“That will do just fine,” John said.
“At sixty grenades a minute, you bet your ass it will do nicely,” Tom said with a grin.
“How many rounds do you have?” John inquired.
“Only five hundred,” Tom said.
“Only five hundred?” John said with a bigger smile. “What’s the round programming?”
“They’re not programmed,” Tom answered.
“You’re my new best friend, Tom,” John said.
“What does that mean?” Anthony asked.
“The rounds that this launcher fires can be programmed in different ways, from air-bursting to detonating after a certain distance,” John said. “When they’re not programmed, they explode the moment they hit something, no matter how close it is.”
“Cool,” Anthony said.
“Help me carry it,” John said to the kid.
“Sure.”
A few minutes later, in the back parking lot as John, Anthony, Derek, and Lauren pushed a compact truck into a corner at the back wall of the lot, opposite side of the back gate. They pushed it in tail first, and it stopped against the wall. John engaged the parking brake.
“That’s good,” John said.
The grenade launcher was on the ground near the truck, along with a few cases of grenades. All of them picked up the heavy weapon and put it on the truck; its three tripod feet dug into the steel of the hood.
“Damn, this bitch is heavy!” Derek said.
“That’s because she’s a big girl,” Anthony said.
John said to Lauren and Anthony, “Okay, why don’t you two stand inside the truck bed and then me and Derek will bring it to you.”
They jumped into the bed and stood behind the truck’s cab, as John and Derek lifted the grenade launcher over the windshield. Lauren and Anthony grabbed the rear tripod legs and pulled it on top of the truck cab. The heavy cannon scratched and dinged the top of the dirty truck as they set it down. Now it was in place to fire on anything that entered the back employee parking lot.
“That’s it, we’re done,” John told them.
Derek went back to help the others loading the boat with supplies, while Anthony and Lauren stayed.
“You up to setting some more claymores, Anthony?” John asked.
“Hell yeah, where?”
John pointed where they were standing. “I want two right here in front of the truck and use a wired detonator long enough to reach the truck bed.”
“No problem,” Anthony said and went to work.
John began to load the cases of grenades into the truck’s bed, and Lauren helped him. He stayed in the bed while she handed him cases, “Thanks,” he said.
“I’m Lauren, by the way.”
“John,” he said and extended his hand to her.
They shook hands, “I know,” she said. “That was quite an entrance you made, I was hoping that you were gonna beat the crap out of Joe. That guy’s an asshole.”
“Yeah, I should’ve, he definitely needs it.”
“I’m sorry about your friend, the pilot.”
“Thanks, he was a good friend.”
“Did you know him long?”
“Fifteen years.”
“Are you really gonna go with us to Oregon?”
“I guess.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have nowhere else to go at the mome
nt.”
“Well, you’re welcome at my ranch.”
“Your ranch?” he said as he put down a case of grenades.
“Yeah and we have plenty of room.”
“Who’s we?”
“My dad and my older brother and a few ranch hands.”
“There’s no infected out there?” he asked.
“Not when I left, no.”
“Why did you leave?”
“I had just got back from a vacation with my family when the infection hit. Me and my fiancé were trying to get there, but we didn’t make it.”
“Which one of the guys is your fiancé?”
“He’s dead.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.”
“At least you have your family back at your ranch.”
“I hope so; I haven’t spoken to my dad in four months, ever since the communication system went down.”
John tried to be positive, but it wasn’t easy for him. “There’s always a chance that they’re fine.”
“A hope?” Lauren said.
“I don’t like that word, sorry.”
“No, it’s okay, I understand.”
“No, you don’t, I’ve lost everyone to this thing.”
“You’re not the only one that’s lost people.”
“I know,” John said and then he paused briefly as he thought. “But you didn’t have to kill someone that you loved.”
“I did, actually,” Lauren said quietly.
“I’m sorry, then you know how I feel.”
“Yes, John, I do, but I still have hope that things will get better, that one day I’ll have a family of my own. If not, then what’s the point of going on?”
“The only point of going on is for survival, and right now, I only care about one survivor,” John said and motioned to himself.
“That’s sad.”
“That’s the truth,” John said and walked away.
Anthony showed up with the claymores. “I’m ready to work, John,” he said enthusiastically.
“That’s good, kid, get to it.” John said and kept going.
“What’s with him?” Anthony asked Lauren.
“Nothing, he’s a survivor.”
Anthony pfft to that. “So am I.”
Ardent and Bear were still at work on the second boat motor when John approached.
