by K. S. Black
“Did they get the house? Are you and Kevin okay?”
“Hold!”
Something moved between the houses but disappeared in between several mesquite trees. An infected made his way out into the open followed by three more, drawn out, most likely, by the noise and the smell of blood. They headed for the dead pilot. Cooper had an idea but continued to look and listen for threats until he was confident that it was safe to leave.
“Do you see anything from your vantage?” Cooper asked. His voice was calm.
“It’s clear as far as we can see right now. There’s nothing in the air or on the roads, but there’s a dust storm coming. It’s going to be big.”
“Are they communicating over the radios?”
“There was some sort of transmission on the military radios when that black chopper first arrived. I don’t know what was said because it was too garbled.”
“I’m heading over to find Kevin. The house is pretty much gone.”
“Did he make it inside the pod?”
“I think so.”
“What do you mean you think so?”
“I’ll find him. We’ll meet you at Redington Pass. I shot down the helo, and I can guarantee someone will be coming back to verify what happened to the pilot and to find out if we’re dead. We need to get off the radios. Out.”
As he drove back to find Kevin, he could barely make out the Catalina Mountains to the north. A haboob was headed their way. The timing couldn’t have been much better.
When he was close to his property, he beeped the horn. A few infected came running out to greet him. He backed up and waited for a couple of seconds before shifting into first gear. Picking up speed, he shifted into second. After he shifted into third, he hit the first infected, followed by three more in succession killing them all. A minute passed, but no others came out to the road. He got out of the Jeep and tied them by their ankles to the bumper and dragged them to what was left of his house.
The garage walls were the only part of the house that remained standing. After shifting a large pile of debris that had fallen on top of the trap door to the pod, he reached down and opened the hatch. He had to give the handle a couple of hard tugs before the hatch would open. Smoke had filled the pod. Cooper waved some of it away before stepping inside.
“Kevin.” He tentatively reached out his hand to touch Kevin’s leg. He wasn’t moving. Cooper’s thoughts flashed back to Shannon and how he’d left her in the pod similar to this one. “No.” The word got caught in his throat.
Kevin opened his eyes and blinked several times. “Hey, it’s Cooper. Did you want a burger, too?”
“Thank god!” He grabbed Kevin and helped him up off the floor and checked him for other injuries, besides the obvious bump on his head. “We need to get you out of here, buddy.”
“Where’re we going?”
“Damn, you must have smacked your head pretty hard. Do you remember what happened before you got in the pod?”
Kevin looked at him blankly. “My fucking head hurts.”
“The bastards used a chain gun and used a couple of missiles to blow up my house.”
Kevin rubbed his head and closed his eyes. “Oh yeah, now I remember. I dove into the pod right before everything exploded.”
* * *
The wind kicked up dust around him as Cooper dragged three of the dead infected into the rubble of the house and placed them inside. He dragged the last one onto the driveway. Kevin helped him cover the bodies with masonry and debris.
Cooper retrieved a couple of small propane tanks and some gasoline. After setting the tanks next to the bodies, he poured gasoline on them and lit the dead on fire. He took one final look at what was left of his home before jogging out to the street where Kevin waited for him in the Jeep.
The propane tanks exploded one after the other as they sped away.
CHAPTER 72
June 12 Edwards Air Force Base
The wind shifted and briefly cleared the clouds and dust. After trying for almost an hour, Conley was able to focus the satellite on the secondary target area and get confirmation that Cooper Reid’s house and his computer network had been demolished.
He zoomed in on the human remains on the driveway and the various body parts partially covered under the rubble inside the house.
McGrath turned on his mic and ordered all but one of the CSDC units back to Edwards. “Elimination of secondary target has been confirmed. I’m finished here.”
While McGrath signed off on his mission and completed his report to General Kiefer, Conley watched as half a dozen infected surrounded the Master Sergeant, his body partially lodged into a now crumbling section of adobe wall. He located WASP-1 across the street. From the image on the screen, the helo seemed intact, except for a broken rotor blade.
The live stream footage was recorded so he hit the rewind button. Then he hit pause and lingered on the image of his dead friend. This was not a noble ending for someone who had been one of the most courageous and honest marines he had ever known. He frowned as he turned off all the monitors and exited the module. “I’ll be outside. I need some air.”
McGrath stepped outside an hour later and handed him a tablet with the casualty/equipment loss report: five enhanced soldiers and one CES listed by ID numbers and rank; one FLYPMode; and one Black WASP helicopter. He signed the bottom of the report with his finger instead of the stylus that was offered.
“Your unit’s performance was exemplary, Major. General Kiefer has already been informed of the swift completion of this mission.”
“Mission?” He glared at McGrath. “That so-called militia we dropped hell on was nothing more than some gangbangers gone wild. I lost one of my best men because I sent him to kill a hacker and his thirteen-year-old daughter. There was no honor in this mission unless there was more to it than what I was told.”
McGrath put the tablet into his briefcase and locked it. “You were given the information that you needed to know. You and your unit are under orders to go Tucson until mop-up operations are complete. One of my CSDC teams will stay there with you until you’re done.
Conley leaned forward towards McGrath. He came close to wrapping his hands around his throat and choking the life out of him.
“You’re dismissed.”
He stood at attention for a few extra seconds before he walked away.
* * *
McGrath boarded a Gulfstream G650, his ride back to the WFN headquarters. He had flown in this particular jet many times before with his mother and her friends. A stunning lieutenant showed him to his seat. In his other life, she would have given him her phone number within five minutes. But he had more important work to do now. He’d have time for those kinds of pursuits later.
“We’ll be taking off soon, sir. We’re waiting for General Barker. He should be arriving in a few minutes.”
“Good. I can’t wait to get away from this godforsaken desert. As far as I’m concerned, the entire Southwest should be nuked.” He looked out the window at the burned out hulls of aircraft. They had been pushed off to the side of the runway, the charred remains of their crew members probably inside them.
“Sir, this is for you.” The lieutenant handed him a bottle of forty-year-old single malt scotch, a small black box with a gold ribbon, and an envelope with Major McGrath written on the outside.
He set everything down next to an ice bucket and two heavy bottomed Waterford tumblers that were waiting for him on a small table next to his seat. He reclined his seat and used a pair of sterling silver ice tongs to drop one ice cube into his glass. Then he held it up to the lieutenant. “Two fingers.”
Her hand shook as she poured.
He repositioned his glasses on his nose and read the note from General Kiefer out loud: “Well done, Major McGrath and congratulations! The lovely Lt. Titus is your new assistant. She’s there to take care of all your needs.” It was signed Gen. H.L. Kiefer.
He untied the ribbon and opened the box.
&nb
sp; “Would you like me to put those on for you, sir?”
He looked at her name tag and handed her the box. “Certainly.” He savored his first sip of scotch and leaned his head back as she replaced his captain’s bars with gold oak leaf insignias. “Life is good, Lieutenant Titus. And it just keeps getting better.”
CHAPTER 73
June 12 – Tucson
Michele took the Houghton Road exit off of I-10 coming from the east.
“Let’s stop. The way you drive makes me want to blow chunks back here.” Jake said through his headset. “But you’re improving, darlin’.”
“Thanks for the awesome compliment, jughead.” She pulled onto the shoulder and came to a stop. ”I was ready for a little break anyway.”
They climbed on top of the LAV to look at the map together but a massive wall of dust caught their attention. It swallowed up a huge column of black smoke on the west side of Tucson.
“Do you think the black smoke has anything to do with the dust storm?” Michele asked.
“I doubt it, but the smoke reminded me of what LA looked like the day our convoy left. We need to get to Reid’s place soon.”
“Are you sure we took the right exit?”
He grabbed the map and spread it out in front of him. “If we follow this road north it’ll take us into Tucson and near Cooper Reid’s place. See?” He pointed to a red X.
“Where’d all the clouds go? It’s still morning so how can it be this hot already? Even the wind is hot. We could go to California instead and take a boat to Hawaii.”
He looked up from the map. “Do you know how to sail a boat? Or how to find Hawaii?”
* * *
The dust storm overtook the LAV as Jake drove through east Tucson. The mountain ranges to the north and west of them disappeared and everything around them turned a dusty orange-red. Visibility was about twenty yards, but he kept driving as the wind whipped small rocks and sand against the sides of the vehicle.
They were close. He dialed in the frequency that Cooper had written on the card but wasn’t having any luck reaching him. He thought he had heard something a couple of times, but there was too much static and other interference.
Michele’s voice came over his headset. She was up in the turret. “Please don’t tell me that we’re headed towards something else that’s on fire.”
He checked the street sign they were coming up on. It matched the address that Cooper had given him. He turned but proceeded with caution towards the still smoking debris that had once been a house. He stopped the LAV on the street outside a gate, put on a pair of wrap-around shooting glasses, and donned his shemagh.
“Wait for me in the LAV. And don’t argue.”
Michele stayed in the turret. “Hey! There’s a body on that perimeter wall.” Her head and part of her face from the nose down were covered with a shemagh. She was wearing goggles and was adjusting a hand held spotting scope to get a better view.
He grabbed his shotgun and climbed down. He walked through a broken gate with a heavy chain and padlock hanging off of it before he headed down the driveway towards the house. The smell of burned flesh assaulted his nose. He stopped to look at what was left of a body before walking quietly towards the rubble of the house where he could see the remains of at least three others. He headed back down the driveway and signaled for Michele to join him.
“Was that your friend on the driveway?”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“That would explain why he didn’t answer us on the radio.”
Their heads turned to the sound of a round being chambered near them.
“We didn’t answer because we were a little busy.” A man with his head and most of his face covered with a tan shemagh stepped out from behind an interior wall that was still standing among the rubble and pointed a Tavor at Jake.
Both he and Michelle raised their Winchesters.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, man.” The voice came from behind them.
“Cooper Reid? Is that you, sir? It’s me, Jake Johnson. We met just over a month ago. I was with the Marine convoy that saved your ass on the highway.” He turned his head. “Is that you Kevin?”
“You and your girlfriend need to put your weapons down, jarhead.” The man kept his Tavor aimed at him.
He lowered his Winchester and reached out slowly and pushed the barrel of Michele’s shotgun down so that it pointed to the ground.
The man stepped forward and stopped three feet away from him. He lowered the Tavor and pulled the tan shemagh away from his face. One eye was swollen shut, he had two black eyes, and his lip was split. But he was smiling. “Sergeant Johnson, I thought you were going back to Texas. You had a family ranch to take care of if I remember correctly. I needed to make sure you were friendlies.” Cooper slung his rifle over his shoulder and held out his hand. “It’s good to see you. Too bad the circumstances aren’t better.”
“Yes, sir.” Jake shook his hand. “I did go home, but I had to leave because it ended up looking a lot like your place does now. What happened here? What happened to your face?”
“You missed out on all the fun. We got attacked a little while ago. I’ll explain more later, but I doubt they’ll be sending anyone in to check on things until this haboob blows over. But it’s starting to clear, so we better hurry. Right now, we need to take a look at a couple of things. Then we’ll go to my house where it’s safe.”
Jake was confused. “I thought this was your house.”
Cooper smiled. “It was until this morning, but I have another place.”
Kevin patted Jake on the back. “Yeah, I didn’t know about his other house either. Until this morning. It’s got a bunker.” The two men shook hands.
“Where’s your daughter? Hayley right?” He looked at Cooper.
“We’ll be meeting up with her and a few other friends up the road a couple of miles when we’re done here.”
Michele cleared her throat, “Thank you, Lord, for another girl.”
“Who’s your friend, Jake? I’m Kevin.” He extended a dirty hand but took it back. He wiped it on his dusty pants and extended it again. “Sorry about that.” He smiled with his teeth showing and shook her hand with both of his.
“Michele Zamora. Nice to meet you.” After he released her hand, she pulled her goggles off.
“Same here. Don’t take this the wrong way, but has anyone ever told you that you’re as cute as a button?”
She pursed her lips together. Jake couldn’t contain his laughter.
“I’ve heard it a time or two.” She wiped the dust off the goggles and put them back on.
“If you folks are done, follow me. I want to find the pilot who fell out of the helo that crashed across the street.” Cooper said.
“I know where he is. When I was looking through my scope, I saw a body on the wall over there.” Michele extended her arm and pointed.
“We’ll follow you.”
* * *
To Cooper’s surprise, the pilot was mostly intact, except for the chunks of flesh that had been torn off by the infected. The mechanized parts were bloody, but looked undamaged as far as he tell.
“I’d like to take the body back with us to get a better look at it. Before we load it up, I want to check out the helo and see if we can scavenge any parts.”
The wind continued to gust, and they were pelted by sand and other debris as they walked to the downed helo. Cooper could see where the EXACTO round had hit the engine under the rotor head.
The chain gun on the front was damaged but the one on the back and four of the remaining missiles were as good as new. He asked Kevin to get the Jeep while they stripped the helo of its weapons.
“Are you planning on going to war?” Jake asked after they set the last missile on the ground.
“I wasn’t planning on it. War came to us, and we’re not going to be unprepared if it comes again.” Cooper looked at the wreckage laying in the xeriscaped yard. “They came here to Tucson to kill me—m
e and whoever was with me—because of what they think I know. I’m hoping they believe we’re dead now.”
“Seriously?” Jake asked.
“I’ll explain everything once we’re out of here. Let’s get loaded up and on our way.”
They put the cyborg pilot and what they could scavenge from the wreckage into the Jeep and onto the LAV and drove to the house where they had parked the semi-truck.
With Kevin behind the wheel of the semi and Jake and Michele following behind him, Cooper led the way to the meet up point.
The paved road ended, and three-vehicle convoy made its way up a winding dirt road. The dust from the haboob started to settle as the winds died down. A patch of blue sky peeked out at them as they slowed to a stop beside a dirt parking area that signaled the start of a trailhead.
* * *
Jake recognized Cooper’s Humvee and saw Hayley sitting on the hood waving both arms as they approached. The other vehicle looked like a converted S.W.A.T. truck. Three women stood in front of it.
Two of them smiled and waved while the tallest one, covered from head to toe, leaned against the truck with her arms crossed. Kevin stuck his head out the window and let out a whoop. Hayley jumped off the Humvee and ran over to him.
“What’s up with the Zombie Response Team decals on the vehicles?” Michelle asked Jake over the headset. “These people aren’t crazy—are they?”
He laughed. “They probably are, but it’s the good kind of crazy. I think we’ll have a chance if we stick with them.”
The women and Hayley got into their vehicles and joined the convoy as it made its way across the uneven dirt road toward the mountains.
* * *
Cooper craned his neck out of the Jeep and took in the view behind him. The world they knew was gone forever.
He remembered a stanza from a poem his father used to read to him when he was a boy and recited it aloud:
“But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
