The Hunt Chronicles (Volume 3): Crusade

by Demers, J. D.

  “Horseshit,” Fish grunted. “Tell ‘em Nomad.”

  “I don’t follow, First Sergeant,” General Bolduc reproached.

  Luke answered.

  “What he is saying, sir, is that in three months, we took a bunch of scared, hungry civilians and turned them into a fighting force. Fish and I have had some experience with this, and, at least in my opinion, you have done a fantastic job. They won’t be perfect, but they are learning. I’ve seen partisans cave and break when the first shot is fired. These people didn’t. You pulled them back, reorganized them, and held the line. I’d say we’ve done a pretty good job of whipping them into shape.”

  “Besides, where else are we going to go?” Burghardt added.

  “I was thinking of letting you and Jodi decide that, Sergeant,” the General said. “You two will be leading these people soon.”

  “You don’t get out of it that easily,” Jodi said firmly. “You’ve led us this long, and we need you to take us to the end.”

  “Besides, sir, I’m a cook,” Burghardt said, smiling at Fish. “I can shoot, make some mean slop, and,” he glanced at his bandaged arm, “take a beating. But I ain’t no commander. Not like you. If we’re going take that textile mill, we’re going to need your smarts.”

  “Of course, only if you think that is what we need to do,” Jodi concluded.

  General Bolduc frowned as he considered.

  “It is.”

  “Then the word is yours to give, Norris,” Jodi finalized and shuffled the papers in front of her. “On to the next issue.”

  The General smiled inwardly and nodded.

  “Captain. You said you have detailed information on the Bogdon Textile Mill, correct?”

  “Yes sir. Plenty of video coverage. Not to mention we can give a pretty good layout of the area and where the Taylor farm is located.”

  “Good,” the General turned to Burghardt. “You will be in charge of collecting that data.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “The next order of business is Christian Hunt.”

  My eyebrow raised at the use of my last name. The General seemed to switch from proper to personal frequently. Perhaps it was a tool the brass used to keep people on their toes.

  “First,” the General started off, “I want to thank him. You guys may not know this, but if it were not for him, I would be missing my noggin,” he said with a tap to his head. “If I had a medal, I’d give it to you.”

  “He’d need a chest first, sir,” Fish snickered.

  I ignored him. “Thank you, General. It was kind of… well, just a reflex.”

  “A reflex I’m thankful for, son. Heroics are often mindless reactions of bravery.”

  I smiled.

  “Now, the issue of getting you guys through scab country. Have you thought about that?”

  “Yes, sir,” Dobson replied. “Won’t be easy. I was going to ask Sheriff Green if he could go over the maps with me. We are still accepting volunteers as well, especially those from this area. We would be happy with any that are willing to go with us, but four volunteers would be ideal.”

  “Sheriff?” General Bolduc motioned to the law man.

  “Of the people that came here with me, there are two others from Dixie County. I’ll talk to them,” the Sheriff said.

  “Sergeant, get the word out. Tell them the circumstances. If more than enough volunteer, we’ll give Dobson the choice of the four he wants to join them.”

  Burghardt acknowledged with a slight nod.

  Campbell lifted his hand and began to speak.

  “We plan on surveying the area tomorrow. Our drones should give us an idea of any traps, dens and their numbers. At least, in the first few miles. Any other information Sheriff Green could give us about the roads west would be helpful.”

  “I’ll set aside some time tomorrow to sit with you,” Sheriff Green told the Captain.

  General Bolduc walked back over to the table.

  “We need to organize our departure. We have a lot of wounded that will need care along the way.”

  “Maybe we can convert one of the buses into an ambulance. The most severe cases can travel in it. That way our medical staff and resources will not be stretched,” Jodi offered.

  “I can ask DJ and Preacher to help with that conversion,” Campbell said. “They’re good with things like that.”

  “Thank you, Captain,” General Bolduc smiled.

  The conversation continued, going over and finalizing the details for their evacuation. They were set to leave in two days, as were we.

  Dobson felt that we had given the scabs a good smacking. Leaving them too much time to lick their wounds may play against us. Their accelerated healing meant that every day we gave them to recover was another scab at one hundred percent that we would have to face.

  I asked to be excused, feeling I would have little input on the logistics of their conversation.

  I left the storage unit and walked through the complex. Checking on Boomer was a priority, but I wanted to see if Daniel was awake first. I know he didn’t like me much. He probably wouldn’t even want to see me. That didn’t mean I didn’t like him. I did. The situation was just regrettable.

  The triage center was composed of three medium sized storage units. Daniel was located in the furthest one.

  I walked past each unit and noticed everyone had either been chained or handcuffed to their cots. A grizzly precaution, but a necessary one.

  Jenna and Preacher were sitting next to Daniel when I walked into the last unit. He was sitting up and smiling at Preacher who was just finishing a story. His mood changed when he saw me. He didn’t get angry, but it was as if my presence had sucked some of the joy from the room.

  “Hey Daniel. How are you doing?” I asked.

  “Fine. Nurse Hammond made me a pretty sweet cocktail.”

  I could use one of those, I thought. Besides the intense fight we were in, I was sore from helping put the compound back together after the raid.

  “That’s good. It was a nasty blow.”

  He reached up and scratched the shaved area around the wound.

  “Yeah. Luckily, I jumped back. Probably would have taken my head off. I needed a haircut anyway.”

  “Maybe if you run into that scab again, you can ask him to trim up the other side,” Jenna chuckled.

  I faked a smile, not finding humor in that. I hoped we didn’t run into Tikel again.

  “You should have seen Daniel,” I said. “He took out one of the scabs and stood with the General and me toe to toe with the biggest scab I’ve ever seen.”

  “I didn’t stand for too long,” Daniel said sourly.

  “Still man, that was brave as hell. He was an Ogre.”

  “I heard he was big,” Jenna smirked. “Wonder if he’s single?”

  “He did use chains, if you’re into that sort of thing,” Daniel said with a smile.

  Now I felt uncomfortable. Daniel and Jenna’s relationship, however brief, was still a tiny thorn in my heart. I brushed it off, remembering that it was Daniel, not me, that had comforted her the day Gonzales died. I had been too engrossed in my own self-pity to care about her feelings.

  Daniel rested his hand on Jenna’s arm and turned to Preacher.

  “Hey, guys? Mind if I talk with Christian alone for a second?”

  Jenna stood up and stretched.

  “Sure thing, honey. Take care of that head,” she said after giving him a peck on the cheek.

  Jenna and Preacher left the two of us. There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment.

  “I meant what I said. That was pretty brave of you,” I told him.

  Daniel chewed his bottom lip for a moment.

  “I…I want to apologize.”

  “Come again?” I asked, startled.

  Daniel’s eyes wandered around the room a moment before meeting mine.

  “I was…mean to you. Well, maybe not mean, but harsh.”

  “Daniel, man, I understand—”

>   “Mind letting me finish before these drugs wear off and I change my mind?” he said with a grin.

  I nodded and took the seat Jenna had vacated.

  “I’m jealous,” he stated. “You know it, I know it. Hell, she knows it. She’s just better at playing it off than we are.”

  “Guess you’re right,” I said, folding my hands together.

  Daniel rubbed his chin. “I don’t belong here.”

  I shook my head. “Not true. We need you.”

  “I don’t mean belong here on this trip,” he sighed. “I mean, I don’t belong here…alive. People like me are not supposed to survive.”

  I found that humorous, and couldn’t control my laugh.

  “You think that is funny?” he asked testily.

  “No, man. Well, yes. Because you’re not the only one that feels that way. Most of us, except maybe Fish, Pittman, and Dobson, shouldn’t be alive. Except for my immunity, there is nothing about me that is special, believe me. But we’re all learning. If I was the same guy now that I was on the day of the Awakening, I wouldn’t be alive today.”

  Daniel raised his hand in disagreement. “Yeah, but you’re a good fighter. You know how to handle dead-heads and scabs.”

  “I wasn’t always like that. It took living through Fish’s zombie boot camp 24/7 to get me to this level. Trust me. You’re no different. Two months ago, could you have seen yourself killing a scab?”

  “Christian, I…I had my eyes closed.”

  That earned another chuckle. Daniel shared in the amusement.

  “Yeah, but two months ago, you wouldn’t have volunteered to go with us.” I paused for a moment. “Daniel…when that man fell off the roof today, you didn’t even hesitate. The rest of us just stared at him. But not you. In the midst of being assaulted by a hundred scabs, you ignored the danger and helped that man, while the rest of us were more worried about the threats around us. That’s a type of bravery I don’t have.”

  Daniel considered my words.

  “Maybe.”

  “No maybe about it, bud. That’s the bravery that is needed in this shitty world. The type of men and women that will risk everything to help someone else, regardless of the danger around them.”

  I stood and squeezed his shoulder.

  “Daniel, don’t ever think you don’t belong. You’ve helped all of us survive. From the first day we met, when you stitched up Fish’s head, to today, you have been a hero.”

  Daniel pursed his lips and clasped his hand on my arm.

  “Thanks man. That means a lot.”

  “No, thank you. Look, I have to go check on Boomer…”

  “It’s okay. Thanks for the talk, Christian.”

  I nodded and waved farewell.

  He jokingly raised his handcuffed hand, returning the wave.

  I found Karina and Boomer inside the CDC bus. She and Doctor Tripp were discussing the chemical makeup of my blood as I walked up the steps.

  “Are you teaching her to be a scientist?” I asked.

  “Someone is going to have to learn,” Doctor Tripp mused. “She’s the smartest one among you, so I’m taking her on as my pupil.”

  I glanced toward the back of the bus. Boomer was asleep on a blanket, lightly snoring.

  “Has he woken up at all?”

  Karina stood up and walked over to the canine.

  “Yeah. I took him for a walk. He won’t put much weight on his back leg, though.”

  Doctor Tripp shook a plastic medicine bottle.

  “I gave him some pain meds. He needs to rest for a day or so, then we will know if it’s broken or not.”

  “We should have brought one of those mobile ultra-sound thingies,” Karina pointed out.

  “Yeah,” I agreed.

  “See, she’s smarter than the rest of you,” Doctor Tripp grinned.

  “So, you two have just been hanging out here?” I asked the two ladies.

  “I have been,” Karina said, sitting next to Boomer and petting his tail.

  Doctor Tripp spun around in her chair and began to type on her keyboard.

  “I actually took the liberty to dissect a deceased scab. It was…educational,” the Doctor said as she worked. “Their muscle fibers have mutated and their organs seem to be laced with a rather tough membrane.”

  “Gross,” I winced.

  “Not really. You know those veins that the Zulus have? Scabs have them too, just under the skin and laced within their muscles. I think it helps pump a form of adrenaline throughout their system. That’s what makes them stronger, I would surmise. I took samples.”

  “Isn’t working on a cure more important?” I asked.

  “Of course, but there is only so much I can do here. Believe it or not, I spend most of my time reviewing the same things over and over.”

  “Too bad there isn’t a way to transmit that stuff to Hoover Dam,” I said. “Would be nice since they have all the stuff that is needed to get the vaccine ball rolling.”

  “I have thought of that, but with communications knocked back fifty years, it isn’t likely. Anyway,” she continued, “I’m going to get some sleep. Are you…leaving Boomer in here?”

  I hadn’t thought about that. There wasn’t any room for me to share the bus with the Doctor and Karina.

  “I’ll keep an eye on him,” Karina assured me.

  “Thanks.”

  I bent over Boomer and scratched behind his ear. He slightly adjusted and settled back into the blanket.

  I left the bus and walked over to Big Red. I wasn’t going to sleep in the compound.

  After I made myself comfortable, I reached up on the dashboard and grabbed the map book. Tracing my fingers along the route Dobson had planned for us, I stopped at the town of Crestview. Our path led us twenty miles to the north of the town.

  There had to be a way to convince the Major to make a detour and see if any of my family was still alive.

  ***

  I spent most of the next morning catering to Boomer and cleaning my weapons. Campbell and the Sheriff had been flying drones into the late afternoon, scouting out possible paths through Scab Country.

  The entire complex was bustling with people preparing for their move. Trucks, vans, cars, and buses were being loaded, repurposed or repaired.

  DJ and Preacher spent most of the morning assisting in the transformation of one of the buses into a large ambulance. After that, they focused their efforts on Big Red, where they redesigned the plow. There was no doubt we would run into scab traps when we headed into Dixie County. Preacher had some ideas on how they could remodel the plow to make it an effective trap buster.

  They welded small iron ‘V’ shapes onto the bottom of the shovel and added springs to the frame so it could ride with the contours of the ground. The idea was that it would rip up spikes on the surface, or take the tops off ones that were buried.

  Daniel seemed to be doing better, though he was still lightheaded. There wasn’t any sign of infection in his wound. By midday he was up and helping with the other wounded.

  By late afternoon, the people of the storage center were almost completely packed and prepared for their migration. It was an impressive accomplishment. Full bellies and the motivation of moving to a safer location seemed to energize the refugees.

  Campbell prepared an intelligence briefing in the General’s office. Most of our group was there, along with General Bolduc, Luke, Sheriff Green, and Sergeant Burghardt.

  They scavenged a large, 60-inch flat screen TV from somewhere and connected Campbell’s laptop. As we took our seats, the screen was turned on to show an aerial view of woodlands. It was currently paused and the storage center could be seen in the bottom left corner.

  Campbell stood up next to the screen. On the opposite side of him hung a map of Dixie County.

  “This has been an interesting day, to say the least,” Campbell said loudly, seizing everyone’s attention.

  He grabbed the yard stick and touched the end of it to a few spots marked in
purple on the map.

  “Unlike what we’ve seen before, there are not a whole lot of scab traps. I think, in large part, this is because they own the area and nothing has tried to make it through. Well, through the first three miles, that is. That is the extent of our drone coverage. Beyond that, we really don’t have a clue.”

  DJ adjusted in his seat. “So basically, we’ll be blind ten minutes into the trip.”

  “Not entirely,” Campbell disagreed, and nodded to Sheriff Green.

  The Sheriff adjusted in his chair uncomfortably and cleared his throat.

  “None of the other people that came with me want to go back. They feel the promise of fertile and zombie-free lands is much more appealing than bulldozing through Scab Country. So…I’ve decided to go with you. I know Dixie county like I know my own ass.”

  “Doesn’t mean you know where their strong points and traps are,” Fish said pointedly. “It’s been months since you’ve been more than a mile inside the area.”

  “True, but we do have the drones for that. We will keep them flying the entire time,” Campbell informed him. “The Sheriff will make sure we don’t get boxed in anywhere by natural or manmade barriers. This is farm country. There are a lot of ditches and aqueducts to navigate around.”

  “Better than nothing,” Fish shrugged reluctantly.

  Campbell nodded and continued with his presentation.

  “During our surveillance of the area, we’ve pinpointed three different clans.” Campbell noted each one marked in red. “It seems that this hive structure they have throughout the county only comes together when they are rallied. Other than that, they seem to mostly keep to themselves. At one point, we caught two scabs from different tribes fighting over a boar. One killed the other. Our guess is that there are more clans and tribes further into Dixie County. As far as how many, we’re not sure.”

  “Scabs fighting each other?” Doctor Tripp asked rhetorically. “Interesting…”

  Campbell agreed. “Yes, something we may be able to use now or in the future.”