The Dark Days Series | Book 2 | Sanctuary

by Cole, Christopher

  “Listen up grunts! We got a big fucking problem coming our way! Intel says a large group of armed bandits have been spotted heading towards Camps Sledgehammer and Terminator. They estimate their numbers are at more than a hundred, they are well armed and considered extremely dangerous. We can’t engage them head-on. We’re gonna have to make a break for the forest and head south for a small town called Dunsmuir. We’ll assemble there and get picked up by the choppers, but we need to evacuate, and I mean NOW!” Captain Alvin stated.

  Captain Noir stepped in, “They’ll be here soon. The soldiers will hold them off as you head south. We don’t have enough soldiers, so we’ll choose some recruits to fight alongside us.”

  Bandits? Are you fucking serious?! Well, shit Army! They should’ve been more prepared for this kind of crap!

  They chose mostly the older kids that were fourteen and the strongest among them.

  DI Brown called, “Martin, Blake, Parker, Lloyd, and Way!”

  My eyes widened and my heart sank. I looked over to my friends and they had the same expression as mine – I could see the fear in Ashley, Carrie, and Molly’s eyes. I looked up at Captain Noir and he had his eyes closed in frustration while trying to figure out what to do. Of course, why not, just another fucking short straw

  “Report to the armory and gear up, now!” DI Brown ordered.

  “You all know what to do, we’ve trained you for this. Get your survival packs and get ready to leave, now! MOVE OUT!!” Captain Alvin roared.

  Everyone ran to their cabins to get their packs while the chosen jogged to the armory. Captain Noir met up with me outside the armory and we walked to the side out of sight.

  “Alright look, I don’t know what the fuck is gonna happen, but you stick to me and do what I say, when I say. You don’t listen to any sergeant, any other officer, no one but me unless I say. You understand? You’ve got this, we’ll get through this together,” Captain Noir promised.

  “Yes sir,” I nodded.

  Captain Noir had one arm around my shoulder and he said in my ear, “You’ve killed people before, you can kill them again. It’s no different than killing a zombie and you’ve killed hundreds of those. Don’t let the blood in your head overwhelm you, keep your cool and your head clear, you read me?”

  “I do, Captain. I’m solid.”

  “Good, let’s get you geared up.”

  We turned around and all of our friends were standing right there looking pensive, especially Ashley and Carrie.

  Before we could even speak Ashley said, “We’re going to fight with you. We know we can’t argue getting Sonny out of here with the others, but we stick together, sir.”

  “Don’t argue, Captain and don’t order us to go, because you know we won’t leave this place without him. There isn’t time, so just tell us how we can help. We can help fight,” Carrie stated, clearly.

  Captain looked like he wanted to scream, but did his best to contain it.

  He hissed through his teeth. “Shit!” then spoke calmly, “Fine, get in the armory and gear up. Once you’re geared up, get your packs and be ready to haul ass south. Do not leave my sight, do what I say, when I say. Now come on!”

  We followed him into the armory where everyone else was gearing up. An officer looked at Captain Noir and the rest of us confused.

  “We got some volunteers. I’ve seen their status. They’ll be useful,” Captain Noir stated.

  The officer nodded and said, “Alright fine, gear up and give them rifles and sidearms.”

  The soldiers got their tactical military vests on, their thigh pistol holsters, helmets, all the magazines and grenades they could carry, and their M4A1 carbine rifles, their AR-10 marksman rifles, light-heavy machine guns. For us Black Shadow kids, all we had were our MOLLE airsoft tactical vests that we use in training and our thigh pistol holsters on our right thigh and KA-BAR knives strapped to our left – we all had tactical MOLLE padded harness belts below the vests at our waists that held a canteen of water, a small first aid kit and foldable map. We were armed with AR-15 SBRs, and sidearms. Ashley, Molly, Sarah and I were armed with Ruger SR40 handguns that had stainless steel slides and black frames, while Carrie, Patch, Jess, Shaun, Scarlet and Warren were all given Glock 19s that had black slides and green frames as their sidearms – we were all given KA-BAR 1211 fighting knives.

  I was armed with a custom assault rifle, a custom SIG-Sauer MCX Virtus SBR chambered in 5.56/223 with an 11.5-inch barrel, Odin Works ATLAS 5 Compensator muzzle brake, SIG’s M-LOK rail system, EOtech holographic sight, SureFire M951XM05 Tactical flashlight mounted on the right side, AN/PEQ-15 IR designator laser in front of the sight, Radian Raptor-SD charging handle, titanium bolt, Magpul CTR stock, vertical foregrip, full-auto and three-round burst select switch. Now this might mean nothing to non-gun enthusiasts, but suffice to say, this is a fucking rifle!

  Ashley was armed with a FN SCAR 16 CQC with the same holographic sight, laser, and vertical foregrip as my rifle as was Molly with her SIG SG 553 Commando. Patch and Sarah were both armed with Heckler & Koch UMP 40s with a M68 Aimpoint red dot sight, vertical foregrip and the same flashlight as the one on my rifle. Jess and Scarlet were both armed with a Heckler & Koch MP5A4 with a Surefire 628 dedicated forend weapon light, and a M68 Aimpoint red dot sight. Carrie, Warren, and Shaun were armed with a Heckler & Koch HK416 SBRs, and the same optics as my rifle.

  They gave us radios and headsets attached to the left shoulder of our vests. Those of us using 5.56 rifles had our tactical vests holding four double magazine pouches, two on the right side our torso and two on the left, and four pistol magazine pouches on each side of the torso above the rifle magazine pouches at chest level – we had enough space in our MOLLE belts to add two extra double magazine pouches giving us a total of twelve magazines and two extra pistol pouches. The others that were using submachine guns were able to hold ten magazine pouches and the same number of pistol mag pouches. There weren’t enough helmets for everyone so my friends and I wore military green camo baseball caps black American flag.

  “Get these Mk 46s and Mk 48s up to that roof, to that one, and to that one there and get as much ammo as you can carry up to all three now! Get as much ammo for everyone as you can carry! Way! Philips! Get to the shooting range and fill these bags up with empty bullet shells and be quick about it!” Captain Alvin ordered.

  Patch and I sprinted to the shooting range where we do target practice on live zombies. They had all the empty bullet shells scooped up and placed in big bins to be recycled for more bullets to be made. The bullets and the shells had mixed colors, some were in the traditional brass and copper color but many of them were nickel color, because they brought actual nickels, quarters and dimes to melt into bullets and shell cases – some of the magazines I’m loaded with are nickel bullet heads instead of copper. We filled all ten plastic bags with the empty bullet cases and ran back to the armory.

  Captain Alvin was talking on the radio, “What do you mean, a herd of zombies has been spotted? Are they close and headed towards us?”

  “Duct tape the bags to these blocks of C4,” Sergeant Davidson ordered us.

  “Can we get any kind of air support?” Captain Alvin asked.

  Patch and I duct-taped the bags to four blocks of C4 with some sort of electric device on top of it – remote detonation.

  “Alright, one Blackhawk Gunship, don’t drag your feet. We’ll be here,” Captain Alvin hung up the radio and turned to us, “Way! Philips! Come with me, we’re gonna set these explosives outside the camp. Grab those cans of gasoline. Let’s move!”

  Patch and I looked at Captain Noir and he waved for us to go ahead with him. I grabbed the cans of gasoline and Patch helped load them into the Humvee with the heavy boxes of IEDs before driving off with Captain Alvin, Lieutenant Billings, Sergeant Davidson and two other Humvees – Patch got into the Humvee behind us. We drove out of the camp and parked in the middle of the road. They gave me an angled LED flashlight to put on my chest to help see
in the dark.

  We got out and Patch caught up with me.

  I spoke, “What do you want us to do sir?”

  “Way, take these IEDs and go with Sergeant Davidson to plant them over there behind those boulders and anywhere where the bandits can take cover. Philips, take those cans of gasoline and pour it around these wrecked vehicles by the road. We want the enemy to stay out in the open to be easy targets. Lieutenant Billings and I will set up the anti-vehicle mines by the road. Cover the IEDs up with grass and dirt so they can’t see them,” Captain Alvin ordered.

  “Yes, sir!” we said.

  I went with Sergeant Davidson to help plant the IEDs and claymores while Patch poured the gasoline all around the wrecked vehicles. I looked at the claymore and even though I’ve seen them a million times over, I still can’t get over how on the claymores they write ‘Front Toward Enemy’ – always struck me funny, admittedly, in a very dark way.

  I spoke, “I understand why we want our guys to blow up the enemy with the claymore facing the right direction, but why stop there? Shouldn’t they put on the back, ‘Not this side dumbass!’ or ‘Wrong side!’ . . . just something.”

  Sergeant Davidson chuckled, “Yeah, you’d think.”

  I placed the C4 bombs where Sergeant Davidson told me as he set up the tripwire and remote detonators – for the gasoline areas and trails that Patch left, Sergeant Davidson set up some incendiary grenades with a tripwire to set them off and ignite the gas. The whole process took about fifteen minutes.

  The fact that we were gonna be in a firefight had not left my consciousness – it was somewhat unnerving. Then again, it wasn’t my first-time spilling blood. I was remembering back to when Grim took me out in the wilds to kill someone. My first kill that wasn’t self-defense. A year ago – I was thirteen.

  ****

  I had him in my scope aimed right at his heart, all it would take is a pull of a trigger and he’s dead. Grim and I were on the ground about 400 yards from away from a target. I had the M40A5 sniper rifle loaded with some deadly 308 Win Mag ammo. However, I found myself hesitating. Something preventing me from pulling the trigger. As expected, Grim noticed . . . and had a look of disappointment.

  Grim sighed, “What did I say about hesitating?”

  I put the rifle down and couldn’t find the words to answer back. I had no problem killing zombies, but with humans . . . something that’s still alive, it feels different.

  “It’s just— “

  Grim pulled out some papers and a map.

  “Nine soldiers. Nine men, our men, were found dead. I’ve been tracking this guy for a week and found him. This man has no interest in having peace with us, showing no mercy. He killed in the past and he’ll kill yet more in the future. That’s who he is. That’s precisely the kind of thing that needs killing,” Grim explained.

  “I know he’s bad. I know he deserves death, it’s just . . . killing a human, it always feels different than killing a zombie. Roamers are already dead, but humans are still alive,” I said.

  “You kill the same way you kill zombies. You don’t think about it, don’t allow yourself to feel it – you have to learn to control your thoughts and feelings. You just do it and get to the other side of it. Now grab your rifle and kill him,” Grim ordered.

  With that I got him back in my sight, adjusted so I wouldn’t miss and pulled the trigger. The shot was loud and the bullet barely took a second to go through his chest. Even from here, I could see the blood spraying out of his chest. A small chill went up my spine watching him falling in the dirt lifeless. Grim got up and then I did.

  “I’m sorry, Grim,” I said.

  Grim stopped and turned to me.

  “I know I shouldn’t hesitate or feel bad, but I’m trying. I just can’t not feel. I get what you’re doing for me . . . but I can't turn off like you. I’m sorry.”

  Grim walked up close and looked at me right in the eye and spoke very clearly, “You’re holding onto your humanity. You can’t do that while out here. Out here, you gotta let go of your humanity and go someplace where you can do the things that are necessary to survive. You gotta find your mad dog.”

  “My mad dog?”

  “Yes, there’s gonna be times where death will be staring at you in the face and you’re either gonna live . . . or you’re gonna die. If you wanna live and you want your friends to live, you gotta get mean . . . you have to get rabid, mad-dog, mean, so you can kill your enemies before they kill you. So, don’t be sorry. Don’t ever be sorry. Just find that headspace.”

  I nodded.

  “Say it.”

  “Don’t be sorry. I’ll find that headspace.”

  “Good,” he said, and I knew the lesson and conversation were over.

  ****

  “Hurry up! We don’t have much time!” Captain Alvin hollered.

  “Captain Alvin, we see the bandits! You need to get back here now!” Captain Noir yelled through the radio.

  I looked over and I could see through some of the trees and bushes in the distance of the lights from the vehicle's headlights – I could hear their engines from our position.

  “Way! Philips! Get your ass back here now!” Captain Alvin ordered.

  Patch and I sprinted back to the Humvee as it started to drive away. Patch got into the Humvee with Captain Alvin. Captain Alvin was in the back of the Humvee with the top open reaching his hand out for me. I could hear everyone at the rooftops hollering at us.

  “Gimme your hand kid!” Captain Alvin reached.

  I ran up and grabbed his forearm. He and Patch pulled me up and into the Humvee. As soon as I was in, the Humvee sped up to get back to the Camp. We saw the bandits in their trucks and vehicles coming out of the forest and driving fast down the road towards us. The gates closed as soon as we were inside the camp. A big explosion erupted and one truck was flying in the air, and then another one – they’re running into the anti-vehicle mines and IEDs. Our guys on the roof started shooting at the bandits.

  I grabbed my rifle out of the armory and pulled the charging handle – I had a skeletonized X-15 fifty round drum mag on it. As I ran for the building where Captain Noir and my friends were, a gravel truck was driving full speed towards the gates while another smaller gravel truck was driving toward the side of the fence. Everyone was shooting at both trucks, but the drivers were hunched low making it harder to hit them – they shot the front tires reducing their speed but they managed to get to the fences, making an opening wide enough for the enemy to come through.

  The bandits hopped out of the gravel beds to run through the fence to us. I switched my rifle from semi-auto to full-auto and fired at the bandits – I killed four bandits and I could see their blood spraying in the air from here. The rifle shook evenly, the constant gunshots were loud with the bright muzzle flash, and the bullet cases were flying out. I must have spent twenty bullets out of the fifty round drum, because when I turned to shoot the bandits by the gates with Patch, his UMP had a thirty round capacity in his magazine and my shots lasted about as long as his when we both ran out – we killed at least ten bandits and there was a little bit of smoke coming from our gun barrels. There were more bandits coming and they were about to shoot us. Patch was rushing to get another mag into his submachine gun and I tried to pull out my sidearm, but then the bandits were getting shot up. Patch and I turned to see Molly firing full-auto with her SIG-SG 553 commando and then Carrie ran up beside her to fire full-auto as well. Patch and I quickly reloaded and we ran back to the building where Captain Noir, Captain Alvin, and the others were. The other Black Shadow teens that were chosen to fight were up on the roof of the building to the right of the gates and to the far left, while my friends and I were on top of the armory next to the garage center. Lieutenant Billings was using his Heckler and Koch HK417 sniper rifle with the twelve-inch barrel and with the others in a building on the right covering the northeast and east side. Sergeant Davidson was using a FN MK 48 Mod 1 machine gun on the building to the left coverin
g the northwest and west flanks. The other Black Shadows were finishing up with gathering their survival gear and meeting with the soldiers at the south side exit to the Camp.

  We ran into the armory, locked the door and climbed the ladder to the roof where everyone was ducked by the sandbags near the roof edge. We switched from full-auto back to semi to preserve ammo and try to be more accurate with our shots. The lights made it easier to see the enemy. They were running through fields and into the IEDs – some died instantly while others were still alive and screaming. All the anti-vehicle bombs were set off and still more bandits were crossing the fields. We picked our shots carefully as they were running toward the camp, and we were picking them off as they ran for cover while trying to shoot back. Patch, Carrie, Sarah, Scarlet, and I were covering the fields to the left of the main road while Ashley, Molly, Warren, Shaun, and Jess were covering the fields to the right of the road. Then, one soldier manning the Mk 46 got shot in the shoulder. Another soldier rushed to his aid trying to stop the bleeding.

  He turned to Shaun who was standing close by and ordered, “Get on the gun! Lay down suppressive fire!”

  Shaun got on the Mk 46 and fired at the enemy.

  “Bandits are breaking the fences! East side!” a soldier yelled.