by Mark Tufo
“How much time do we have?” He asked.
“None.”
“Say again. Because it sounded like you said none.”
“There’s no way off this base bud.”
“Than what are you doing here?”
“Personal reasons BT, I was afraid that if the zombies got to you and turned you, the first person you’d come and try to eat would be me. And you already scare the shit out of me without being a monster too.”
“Fucken hilarious.”
“My wife tells me that too. Let’s go.”
“Mike I’m just going to slow you down. Go spend these last few minutes with your family.”
“See I knew you were going to say that. So I got you a present.” I ran out to the hallway and grabbed my ‘gift’ and drove it in.
“A scooter? You got me a scooter? Do I look like I should be collecting social security benefits?”
He was giving me shit the whole time, but he was still shuffling his ass over and onto his cherry red ride.
The scooter sagged under the assault of his weight. Such an inappropriate time, but I couldn’t help it, laughter started slowly in my gut and frothed out my mouth.
“What are you laughing at Talbot?”
It took me a bit before I could get it out. The effect of my words on BT made me break out into a fresh chortle. “You look like a Russian bear on a tricycle.” I told him. It wasn’t nearly as funny when he ran over my toes.
“Yeah not so hilarious now is it?” He said as he drove out into the hall.
“It sort of is.”
“This thing has reverse Talbot, don’t make me use it. Where we going?”
“Ambulance exit, hope my ride is still there.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN - JOURNAL ENTRY 13 -
Tracy was at the entrance to our building, her demeanor shifted from ‘worried sick’ to ‘where has your ass been' as I pulled up.
“Talbot, everything’s packed. We’re ready. Are we all going to fit in that thing?”
“Get the shit and get back upstairs.”
Tracy seemed to misinterpret my message. She looked relieved.
“They’ve been stopped?” She asked.
“Not so much, this is Camp Custer after all.”
“What’s going on Mike?”
“Trace get the boys, grab the stuff and head back upstairs, I’ll tell you when we get there.”
She was definitely not appreciating my curt manner.
“Hon, remember that huge truck?”
She nodded.
“There’s three more coming and they’re full of zombies, there’s zombies everywhere. There is no way to get off this base.”
I watched as the light of hope in her eyes flickered and then went out.
“So this is it then?” She asked looking straight into my eyes.
“Oh come on, you know me better than that.” I said. Not really a lie, I never said we’d get out.
BT pulled his bulk out of the hummer. Tracy was relieved to see him. She ran over to help support him, as much as a 110 pound woman can support a 300-pound man. But it was the thought that counts.
I could tell BT was really laying it on thick with Tracy. “Mike.” He said through gritted teeth and a false pained expression. “Could you get my ride?”
“That thing is heavier than hell, you get it out of the trunk.” I said.
“Mike!” Tracy shot back.
“Fine.” I answered.
As they headed into the building, BT turned over his shoulder and threw me a wink. He mouthed the words, ‘That’s for calling me Lawrence, asswipe.’
“Real nice, real nice. That’s the last time I risk Armageddon to come get your over sized ass.”
“Mike!” Tracy yelled from within the foyer.
“Fine! But if I get a hernia lifting this thing out, you’re the one that’s going to have to push my intestines back in.”
“Uh huh.” I heard from her as she headed upstairs, BT daintily leaning on her shoulder.
Gunfire had diminished significantly. I didn’t take that as a good sign. The earth was still trembling under my feet, which meant at least one and probably more of those behemoths were operational. I stowed BT’s new ride under the stairwell. I don’t know why. I honestly didn’t think that he’d ever get the opportunity to use it again.
Travis was looking out the window when I got up to the room.
“Would you shut the curtains, please?” I asked him.
He turned to me; this was the first time in weeks he looked more like the boy I knew than the man he was becoming.
“What now Dad?” He asked.
I was out of answers. I sure as shit wasn’t going to tell my youngest that we were waiting for death. I turned to Tommy who had somehow got a hold of Tonka truck that looked suspiciously like the rolling death machines outside. He was peering into the plastic windshield in an attempt to get a closer look at the figurine driving the truck.
“What’s going on Tommy?” I asked him. Something had fastened itself to his attention and I wanted to be there for the reveal.
“Ryan keeps telling me to look closely at the synthesizers.” Tommy answered, his tongue nestled securely between his upper and lower jaw. Henry had come over to sniff at the purple goo covered appendage.
I couldn’t have been any more confused if I had just tuned into an English Cricket match. Flat bat, bouncing pitches -- it’s madness!
“Did he mean ‘sympathizers’?” BT asked.
“Well that makes a shitload more sense.” I answered.
“Talbot.” Tracy said.
Damn cursing. “Tommy, what are you looking for?” If Ryan thought it was important enough to share with Tommy, than it was.
“I don’t know, it’s really fuzzy. It looks a lot like the old cable boxes TV picture when you would try and watch the scrambled adult channels.”
“Hey wait now, I was just a kid.”
Tommy looked at me funny.
“Okay so you weren’t talking about me personally then, I take it?”
“Talbot what is wrong with you?” Tracy asked?
“Come on BT, help me out every kid did that.”
BT looked away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, we couldn’t afford cable when I was growing up.” He winked at me again over Tracy’s head.
I flipped him off.
Tracy thought I had done it to her and reciprocated the gesture.
“No wait, honey it wasn’t for you it was for that effen big jerk behind you.” BT winked again. “You’re lucky you’re that huge.”
Tommy spoke up, the room instantly quieted down. “Ryan keeps saying we have to go look at the humans. Like now.”
BT made as if he was going to get up.
“Not this time BT.” I said. He looked hurt. “BT, I can’t think of a better friend I would want to stay here and defend everything that is sacred to me.” Now he looked honestly touched, I couldn’t leave it like that. “And besides I think your cherry red scooter might draw us some unwanted attention.”
“I know where you live Talbot.” BT rumbled.
“What are you going to do Mike?” Tracy asked.
“Most likely the stupidest thing possible. Justin, grab your stuff.” Travis made to get his gear too. “I put my hand on his shoulder. “Not this time. I want as few of us out there as possible.” I thought he might be hurt from my decision and maybe he was and wasn’t showing it. But not having to go out into a deadly nightmare has its pluses. Justin’s health was vastly improved from when we had arrived on base, but he still harbored the virus within him. I was hoping that this would somehow benefit us while we looked for some answers to Ryan’s questions. Uncertainty mounted upon ambiguity, sounded like a crappy foundation from which to launch an escape.
I hesitated in the stairwell. Sure, part of it was because who willingly wants to go into battle. What really had me stopped in my tracks was how were we going to blend in, and a lot of that had to do with how the
battle outside was going. If we ran out there in civvies (civilian clothing), it was damn sure guaranteed the army and Marines weren’t going to ask whether we were refugees or invaders before they shot at us. If we went and changed into camos and the attackers were winning we pretty much were going to suffer the same fate. Dead is dead, doesn’t really matter how you get there.
“I think we need to cover both bases.” I said to Justin. Not being privy to my inner dialog he was now thoroughly confused.
I ran back into the apartment; not much had changed in the 15 seconds I had been gone. “Trav, get away from the window.” The fighting had not yet reached this far into the base but it was only a matter of time and an eighth of an inch thick pane of glass would do little to stop a bullet.
“What are you doing Mike?” Tracy asked looking up from the couch. Stress was etched into her features. The small reprieve from a world gone mad had done us all some good, but that plush rug had been violently pulled from beneath us and we were going to have some serious difficulty righting our collective equilibriums.
“Blending in.” I told her.
There were many reasons why our marriage had survived and she continually never ceased to amaze me. Her insight into my mind could at times be frightening, but not this time.
“You know, Mike, that we don’t all reside in that head of yours right? We are not figments of your imagination. Unless you tell us what is going on we don’t just know.”
I’ve referenced it before but I’ll give you some more clarification. The male mind is truly only designed for the task at hand. If we were an operating system and you were to take a look at the resources being used for the job we were working on (whether it was sex or watching a football game or just eating a sandwich) we would be pinned at around 98%, the other 2% would be available for possibly looking for dangers that threaten like a rabid polar bear crashing through your front door during the third quarter. We would have just enough system resources left to recognize that and then shift over into survival mode.)
And being prior military that 98% might actually get ratcheted up to 99ish percent, when there is a military operation running through my grape, I am constantly thinking through contingency plans and odds of success and failure. Banalities and frivolities are things of a peaceful civilized society, they have no place in conflict.
So when I answered Tracy with “Huh?” it really shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone.
Seeing the stonewalled face I portrayed, she turned to Justin.
He shrugged his shoulders. “He didn’t tell me anything either.” Justin told his mother.
I ran into my bedroom and into the closet rooted around for a few seconds and was rewarded for my trouble. I came out and threw a pile at Justin. “Put these on.”
He started to take his jacket off. “No, put the cammies on over your other clothes. I think we’re going to need to have both teams' uniforms on for this.”
Tracy placed her face in her hands. Nicole emerged from the bathroom, morning, afternoon and evening sickness had settled in for the long haul with her. The road was no place for anybody, much less someone in her condition.
“Hi Dad.” She said, her pale green color nearly matching the décor of the room.
“What’s the matter ‘Oley, I don’t smell any buns?” Tommy said with a sorrowful look on his face. The room turned to look at him. “Are they hot cross buns?” Tommy asked. “Cinnamon buns? Because that would be awesome, but that doesn’t make sense because those would be rolls. Corn muffins?” Tommy asked expectantly.
All this talk of food was not having an agreeable turn with Nicole’s fragile stomach so she launched herself back into the bathroom, the door barely closing as the first of the retches racked through her.
“What’d I say?” Tommy asked nervously.
“Tommy what are you talking about?” Travis asked him.
“Ryan says Nicole has a bun in the oven. Is it a big bun? I mean because how is everyone going to be able to eat it, are we only going to get one bite to eat each, because I really like hot buns. Do we have butter? I don’t really like margarine, I could put some peanut butter on my bite though, that would be pretty good.”
I was tense because there was still some serious danger in my immediate future but Tommy’s words always had a way to warm my heart. I could tell that BT was near to out loud laughing. The embarrassment he would cause Tommy was the only thing keeping that in check.
“I’ll tell him what’s going on Mike.” Tracy said with a soft almost ghost of a smile. “Just hurry up and get back here, both of you.” I gave her a small kiss. She gripped my hand before I could turn to leave. “I’m not kidding Mike, get your’s and Justin’s asses back here soon.”
I nodded. I was not going to verbally promise something that I wasn’t sure we could deliver on.
“Not even a false promise Mike?” Tracy asked.
“Get your shit Justin, let’s go.” I didn’t turn back to face her, I might not have left. Inaction can be as deadly as a poorly executed action.
CHAPTER TWENTY - JOURNAL ENTRY 14 -
Outside of the barracks it was eerily quiet, like we were in the eye of a hurricane. The housing area was located nearly dead center in the camp. Fierce fighting was still raging to the front of camp and sporadic fighting was coming from the rear but for the time being nothing was blessedly happening here. Some people milled about, lost in confusion, indecision; some just plain scared out of their minds.
“Sir, sir.” An older balding man came huffing and puffing up to me. When he got closer I realized he might actually be younger than me, he had just led a soft life and his unconditioned body showed it. How had he made it this long? “Sir, what is going on, what should we do?”
Up close, how the hell he figured me for military I don’t know. First off I had a very unstandard goatee and my cammies which weren’t meant to be worn over my civvies, couldn’t have been any more ill fitting if I had tried. My drill instructor would have beat me into the dirt if I had ever showed up to revelry looking like this. That got me smiling. I think it might have looked more like a sneer though the way the roly-poly man backed up a step.
That didn’t stop him completely from marshaling himself. He grabbed my cuff as I began to walk off. “Sir, what should we do?” He said pointing back to the small throng of people looking nervously around.
“Fine, you want to know what I think you should do?” I said addressing the crowd. I got some nods and a general consensus of ‘Yes’s’ “This is for ALL of you. I don’t care if you’re Catholic, Protestant, Lutheran, or into Buddhism, Hinduism, a Jehovah’s Witness or better yet an atheist or agnostic. First thing you should do is pray, because even if you don’t believe in a God or a higher power, what do you have to lose? If I’m wrong and there is no God you only lost a few seconds comforting yourselves and each other, but if I’m right?” I left that one unanswered. It was self-explanatory.
“The second thing all of you should do is get indoors and arm yourselves.” Roly looked like he might protest. “There are no pacifists or atheists in a fox hole. We are all about to be in a fight for our very lives, do you want to meet your maker knowing you went down meekly or you did everything in your power to eradicate all evil on this planet?” Most took the majority of my words to heart and would at least go down swinging after their one sided correspondence with a higher entity. Others, like Roly, still wandered around aimlessly looking for someone or something to get them out of this jam. They would be among the first to be ground to dust under the wheels of the war machine.
“Justin you stay behind me, anything happens, you head back. Got it?”
“Sure something happens to you, I go back alone and tell mom I left you behind. Got it.”
“That’s not what I meant smart ass.”
“I’ve got your genes.”
“Lucky you.” I said, not as a compliment.
After a moment’s thought, I headed towards the rear of the base and Lake Mich
igan. More enemy humans to scope out towards the front but that also meant more fighting. More fighting meant more bullets and more explosions, more of an opportunity to get killed. I had checked my itinerary earlier in the day. Nowhere on it did it say anything about dying. We hadn’t gone more than a block when we began to run into wounded soldiers who were being medevacked out of the hot areas. The shell shocked look of defeat shone through their eyes. Hastily made bandages were soaked through with blood. More than one unlucky soul screamed for their mother, most gripping what remained of a slightly tethered leg or arm. One poor bastard's entire lower half had been compressed to a third of its former size, how he was still alive was proof to me that God had turned a blind eye towards his children. His glassy shock-tainted stare was having an unnerving effect on Justin. To be fair, Justin’s illness had kept him largely out of all the battles we had thus far been in. Unfortunately for him, he’d be able to get some much needed experience today.
Justin was having a difficult time compartmentalizing the sights all around him. He kept stumbling into me, so intent was he on looking around at the human carnage and subsequent debris. I’d seen it before, happens all the time in combat. Some guys, no matter how much training they’ve received, can’t cope with the sensory overload. We used to call them ‘freezers’, more times than not these ‘freezers’ would get their buddies killed because the friend would go out to save them and usually take the bullet.
“Justin, you have got to stop walking up my heels.”
“Sorry Dad, I’ve just never seen so much…”
“Death."
"I was gonna say blood, but whatever."
"I know, but you’ve got to move on. We’ve got to concentrate on what we need to do. These men and women were brave. They died for us and have given us this chance to save ourselves. The best way we can remember and honor them is to succeed.”
My words seemed to have the desired effect. Justin stopped ramming into my back and his gazed stayed to the front. More likely his stomach was right now rivaling his sister’s and he didn’t need any more fodder for his stomach canon. The barrage of injured began to slough off to a trickle and then to nothing. As good as that was visually, it was that bad in terms of the direction the battle had taken. No more casualties being taken off the field of battle meant that there weren’t enough healthy soldiers to do the task. That fact was punctuated when at the very next block we began to encounter soldiers in full on retreat. As if they were dragging it behind them, came the pustulous smell of the dead. Justin volleyed forth a greenish-yellow bile that seemed nearly incandescent in its hue.
