Crawlerz: Book 5: Off the Rails

by R. S. Merritt

  “I’ll tell you if I’m right.” Jeff answered with a wink.

  “Don’t wink at me. Also, if we wait until we know what happened you’ll just say you were right.” Drew said dragging himself to his feet.

  “They’re coming out.” Yue said. “Tell everybody to hold their fire.”

  Jeff got on the radio and ordered everyone to hold their fire. A small group of men had walked out of the large warehouse. They were waving white towels in the air. They hesitated at the bloody bodies of the men who’d charged out before them. The towels dipped a bit as the men stared across the parking lot at the hard eyed soldiers of the suicide squad. On top of the tattooed men pointing machine guns at them there was also the fear of being outside so late. It wasn’t dusk yet, but it wasn’t dawn either. The sky was a little overcast as well which always added to everyone’s anxiety.

  The towel waving weekend warriors paused about a hundred feet from the nose of the chinook Jeff and crew were watching them from. Jeff spoke into his radio requesting the men be escorted into the helicopter to meet with him. They were being asked to leave all weapons outside the door and submit to a search to verify they were weaponless.

  “You know who I don’t see.” Drew said staring at the men forming a single file line to be searched and allowed on the helicopter.

  “The guy we sent over there in the first place.” Yue answered without even looking out the window. She was busy formulating how she wanted to approach getting these people to agree to a lasting peace. On top of a lasting peace she also needed them to agree to get in the fight. It was a numbers game. The more people playing ‘whack a crawler’ the better. At least in North America. They could worry about the rest of the world later.

  Men started filing onto the helicopter. Yue realized they may have made a mistake in having them climb aboard. About twenty men had come out of the warehouse to meet with them. It was going to be a little crowded onboard. Also, there were weapons strewn out all over the place. The weapons were secured but accessible. She whispered her concerns to Harley who’d also been thinking this was a really stupid idea.

  “Ok. Change of plans! Back out the door. We’re going to meet up on the opposite side of the aircraft. The side where my bosses can’t be hit by sniper fire from your warehouse.” Harley barked out the order and watched as the few men who’d already boarded turned to head back out. This was not off to a good start.

  “What if we have snipers out in the woods? Maybe you should dig a hole first for us to meet in.” A rather large man had reached the limit of his temper evidently. He stepped across a pile of junk on the floor to get in Harley’s face.

  “You’re going to need a hole to bury all your buddies out there in after we leave.” Harley said with an evil grin.

  “Okay! That’s enough. Harley, go back to your corner. Whoever you are get the hell off the helicopter. We’ll talk outside.” Yue was fully in charge of the situation. The large man was about three times her weight and towered over her by at least a foot. He gave her a quick, sarcastic salute and turned to walk off the helicopter. Yue put her hand on Harley’s chest to stop him from moving towards the man. She gave Jeff a stern look to get him to put his pistol back in the holster. He’d casually moved it to his lap in case he needed to shoot the oversized traitor Joe.

  They piled out of the helicopter to go talk to the men waiting below. The group didn’t look particularly happy to see them. Judging by the current height of the sun they needed to get this knocked out quickly. Otherwise they’d either have to come back tomorrow or go inside the warehouse. None of them really felt comfortable going into the warehouse with all the people who hated them. Eventually those people would come to understand it didn’t really matter what’d happened at the beginning when no one really knew anything.

  “You’re the guy who came up with the plan to abandon us all to die aren’t you?” A man towards the rear of the group asked. He stepped forward staring at Jeff. Jeff had been lurking in the back of their group. He was surprised to be called out like that. Rather than try to deny it he put his head up in the air and stepped forward. He started talking before Yue could try and smooth over the conversation.

  “I wrote it. I also pitched it to the President. Knowing what I know now I think I would’ve handled it differently. Back then it seemed like the only way to ensure anyone at all survived. The President and everyone else agreed to it but ultimately it was me who came up with the plan that was executed. It was the wrong way to handle it. I’m doing my best now to make up for it. That’s why we’re standing here talking right now.” Jeff finished up his answer and stood silently waiting to hear what the men had to say. He was ready to dive into action if one of them pulled a concealed weapon out.

  The men in the group muttered amongst themselves. The man who’d originally spoken up stared Jeff up and down. After a moment or two of the stare down he stepped forward. The man ignored all the guns suddenly pointed at him and stretched his hand out towards Jeff. Jeff stepped forward and they shook hands.

  “I’m Captain Marshall. Thank you for saying that. As long as you mean it, I’m willing to work with you. Now go ahead and tell us what you’re thinking of unless you want to come spend the night in our warehouse. It’s getting a little too dark out here for me.” Captain Marshall said looking around nervously. Jeff nodded in agreement and quickly jumped into explaining what they were trying to achieve to the captain.

  “Good to meet you captain. I’ll try to explain this as quickly as possible. We’re in the process of coming up with the best way to eradicate the infected. We have people working on bioweapons and all kinds of fancy initiatives. One of those may work out and make our job easier but I’m not holding my breath. Until they come up with such a thing, I’m going to stick to killing them the old fashioned way. Blowing them up or shooting them seems to be pretty effective. We’d like to coordinate our efforts with your team to clear out different sections. Sound good?” Jeff asked. He felt like he’d made a pretty straightforward pitch. He didn’t like standing out in the open at this time of day either.

  Yue took a step backwards holding her head. She’d just gotten a clear vision of them all standing in the parking lot. It’d come from a lot of different eyes. She was seeing them from multiple angles. They needed to hurry this up.

  “What do we get for working with you?” The captain asked.

  “What do you mean?” Jeff said. He was caught off guard. In his head they just agreed to work with them and that was that.

  “South Carolina.” Captain Marshall said.

  “I’m sorry captain. You want South Carolina?” Jeff asked.

  “I think that’s fair. We clear out the state and it’s ours. Otherwise what are we fighting for? The government that deserts us as soon as things get rough? Are you trying to rebuild that government or are you trying to clear out the infected so we can all get back to Facebook and the Real Housewives?” Captain Marshall asked. He was smiling but his eyes were hard. This man had not forgiven the government either. He just wasn’t dumb enough to charge a chinook with his rifle.

  “I’ll have to ask the President, but a land grant seems like fair compensation for joining up.” Jeff answered. He ignored Yue poking him in the back. He wanted to spin around and ask her what she wanted but he felt like they were close to some kind of an accord in the negotiations. He didn’t want the conversation with Marshall to stall out now. They didn’t have much more time before they’d have to call a break for the day.

  “I’m not talking about a land grant. I’m talking about sovereignty. Once we get a guarantee of that then we’ll clear out the space we’re granted and agree not to attack your forces. You’ll be guaranteed safe passage and all of that. I’m sure there’s some lawyers somewhere who can draft it up for us. End of the world and we still need freakin lawyers.” Captain Marshall turned and spat.

  “I’ll have to see what the President has to say about it.” Jeff answered. He wanted some time to sit down and consi
der it himself. Why should they give a few hundred men South Carolina? They had more people than this sitting out on individual islands and ships. Of course those people on the islands and ships had no clue how to fight the infected. Not like these guys did. Jeff was pretty sure if they did grant them some land and supply them with extra ammunition that they’d do their part.

  “Yep. Let’s see what the prince thinks. You know he’s not the legit President, right?” The captain’s resentment was starting to seep out. It was probably the right time to wrap this up. He felt like they’d gotten somewhere at least in the limited time available to talk.

  “We need to take cover now!” Yue hissed loudly in Jeff’s ear.

  Jeff instinctively looked up at the sky. It’d gotten lot cloudier. He felt the first drops of rain hit him in the face. Massive storm clouds had appeared out of nowhere. Yue wouldn’t be hissing at him in the middle of all of this unless she meant it.

  “Ok. Let’s talk again in the morning. For now I think we all need to take cover. You can pick your weapons back up over there.” Jeff said pointing at where the squad had everyone’s confiscated weapons stacked neatly against a couple of boxes. A massive black cloud rolled across the sun putting the whole parking lot in the shadows.

  “They’re coming!” Yue screamed pulling her rifle up to her shoulder.

  Harley and Jeff both moved protectively over by Yue. Drew and LeBron and the rest of the suicide squad soldiers were all looking around uneasily with their weapons tucked into their shoulders as well. They all tracked the time of day with raging OCD all day every day. The quick moving storm and the meetings with these people who wanted to kill them were throwing them off their game.

  When no one was immediately attacked everyone relaxed slightly. The men from the warehouse hurried to pick up their weapons. A couple of them looking appraisingly at Yue. Apparently, word of the ’witch’ had spread. One of the men from the warehouse bent over to pick up his weapons. The man was reaching down one second then the next he was knocked on his stomach. A dirt and scab covered crawler was hungrily crunching into the back of his neck. Drew shot it in the head and looked around for other threats. More men began going down as the infected wave of runners crashed into them.

  “Get in the helicopters!” LeBron yelled. His cry was echoed by the people around him. They’d let themselves get in the worst possible position. A large open space where they couldn’t pin down the infected to wipe them out with gunfire.

  Harley and Jeff knocked some people out of the way to get Yue up and through the door into the helicopter. She was already deep in a trance. She knew she could do more with her mind than with her body in this fight. She was struggling to put images of more potential victims over by the warehouse. Her images were weak compared to the blood soaked visions being bounced around by the monsters lustfully ripping into fresh skin and bone. Her attempts to capture a greater share of the groupthink weren’t working. The crawlerz were locked into the single-mindedness of the fresh blood and flesh from the hunt.

  In her head she saw two more men go down through the eyes of their assailants. She screamed out warnings to them, but they had no way of hearing her. Harley had put her in a seat towards the front of the plane. She needed more emphasis on her visions to get them focused on by the attacking crawlerz. She needed a strong vision of blood and pain and rending flesh. It had to be visceral. There were too many of them sharing vivid images for her to compete with her lackluster imaginings. Her fake visions weren’t going to cut it this time. With no one around for her to bite into she shoved her forearm into her mouth and bit deeply.

  Chapter 13: The Law of Murphy

  Captain Marshall could just make out the outline of the crawler streaking towards him though the rain. Firing his rifle he watched as his attacker leapt into the sky to avoid the bullets that he was spewing at it. Knowing the monster would be coming down directly on top of him the captain took a quick step back. He thrust the barrel of his weapon in the air and proceeded to perform the old spray and pray. A second later the crawler came streaking out of the darkness and they both slammed into the ground.

  Blacking out for a second the captain came to trying to remember what’d happened. Why was he laying on the ground in the rain with a dead body on top of him? Pushing the body away he could just make out the bullet hole right in the middle of the crawlerz forehead. Maybe there was something to prayer after all. Not that there was ever any shortage of fervent believers on the battlefield. There’s no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole once the artillery gets going.

  Someone offered him a hand up. Grasping the hand he was pulled to his feet by the young man he’d seen hanging around with the leadership by the helicopter. There was no time for introductions as another crawler appeared out of nowhere running hellbent towards them. Drew snapped his pistol up and fired off a couple of shots at the fast moving shadow. It looked like one nicked the monster, but it just sprinted right past them to be lost in the torrential rain pouring down on them now.

  “Get in the helicopters!” The command was coming from the direction of the chinook’s door. Drew made sure the captain was able to stand then they both jogged in the direction of the yelling. They had their guns up as a few more of the infected streaked past them into the darkness.

  Not all of the crawlerz were running away. Drew and the captain stopped jogging to shoot a young, infected girl who had her head shoved deep into the entrails of one of the suicide squad. The dying mans’ face had one of the joker tattoos painted onto it. Drew’s first shot hit the girl in the back. She spun around revealing a face twisted with hatred. The rain had washed most of the dirt and grime off of her face. She could almost be a teen girl throwing a tantrum. The difference being in her eyes and the way she was baring her gums by pulling her lips back to gnash her teeth. The next bullet hit her in the middle of her face.

  Seeing the back of her head exploding outwards left very little doubt in their minds that the vicious thing might still be alive. Only feet from the entry to the helicopter they continued moving forward.

  “Watch out behind you!” Drew heard LeBron screaming out of the entryway to the helicopter.

  Drew spun around to face whatever threat his brother had seen in the midst of this monsoon. A gigantic crawler was barreling out of the darkness. Captain Marshall, Drew and LeBron all peppered it with quickly aimed shots. Drew was whacked in the back by what felt like a sledgehammer. He fell to his knees painfully. Even on his knees he kept firing away at the monster in front of them. It had a comically confused look on its face like it couldn’t figure out why its body wasn’t doing what it was being told. Captain Marshall stepped forward and wiped that look off its face with a well-placed burst from a shotgun he’d picked up during the fight.

  Tears in his eyes Drew turned accusingly towards LeBron. LeBron was busy trying to look like he hadn’t just accidentally shot his brother in the back. Shelving that discussion for later Drew rushed past LeBron to board the depressingly uncrowded helicopter. Not seeing anyone else boarding the helicopter Harley slammed and locked the door to keep the infected out. Wishing for an icepack Drew settled for the pill that Harley handed him. The Kevlar had stopped the bullet but his back still felt like someone had gone to town on him with a cat of nine tails.

  Walking forward rubbing his back he heard the first crawler slamming itself into the side of the helicopter. Continuing forward he saw where Jeff was holding someone steady with a blanket wrapped around them. Getting closer Drew saw it was Yue. He sat down opposite the two of them and asked if Yue was ok.

  “I don’t know. Can you help?” Jeff asked. He looked thoroughly freaked out. Drew squatted down and pulled the blanket up so he could see what was going on. He could only see the whites of her eyes. Her mouth was covered in blood. Both of her forearms and one finger were missing significant chunks of skin. Blood was everywhere.

  “She saved us.” Drew muttered. It dawned on him now why the crawlerz outside hadn’t pressed the atta
ck. Why some had run off in random directions. They still may not survive the night, but it was only thanks to Yue that they’d lived this long. Drew shouted for a medic. Captain Marshall stepped forward.

  “I was a general practitioner when I wasn’t busy playing soldier on the weekends.” Drew took him over to where Yue was still passed out. He gasped when he saw what her arms looked like.

  “Can you help her?” Jeff asked.

  “She did this to herself?” Marshall asked.

  “Yeah. She’s not infected.” LeBron said jumping in to try and keep Yue’s secret safe. The captain nodded in a preoccupied manner and started telling them what he needed. Meanwhile the infected were really slamming into the helicopter now. It was only a matter of time before the thick windows, or some latch gave out. Once that happened, they were all dead.

  Marshall took the first aid kit that Drew came jogging back with. He took some supplies from his own pack as well and started working on cleaning and bandaging Yue. Looking up he told them that this was going to take a while, but he had what he needed. They all remained where they were staring at him. Grimacing up at them he asked if they could please get the helicopter in the air before they all got eaten by the infected hell beasts currently trying to beat their way in.