Crawlerz: Book 5: Off the Rails

by R. S. Merritt

  “Let’s get as close as we can and go off road. We can take turns standing watch for the whopping three hours of sleep we’re going to get.” Jeff decided. That plan made as much sense as anything else.

  LeBron put the truck back in drive. High beams on they continued cruising down the desolate highway. All of them very well aware that the longer they were on the road the more likely they wouldn’t make it. The smart thing would be to pull over and hide immediately. All it would take would be a pack of crawlerz to spot their headlights and they’d be dead. LeBron eased his mind by thinking back to the circles Jeff had shown him from the marked up satellite photos.

  Crawlerz in big groups was obviously a bad thing. The silver lining around that was if the crawlerz were all getting together in big cannibal clumps then that meant they weren’t spread out as much. While it would suck to run into a few hundred of the crawlerz marching down the middle of the road it helped that there weren’t as many random infected walking along in the woods by themselves. Not that anyone had informed the infected that those were the new rules they needed to follow.

  Hoping that theory would prove itself correct they drove as close as they were willing to risk to Weathertop before pulling off the road. LeBron drove down into an overgrown field. The truck was the off road model so had the four wheel drive capability included. That should keep them from waking up in the morning stuck in the mud in the middle of the field. LeBron drove through the brush until they were far enough off the road to avoid the casual notice of any passing enemies. Checking the clock and doing the math they now had a little less than three hours to kill before they needed to get moving. Not exactly enough time for a full night’s sleep.

  Filled with worry for their friends and family back at Weathertop sleep was the last thing on their minds anyway. Wishing for the millionth time the overpriced tonka truck they were in had come with a CB radio they sat in the darkness waiting for the first hint of dawn. Knowing the danger the unsuspecting people at Weathertop were in they were all impatient to get moving.

  Chapter 25: A Hard Day’s Night

  Jeff had stayed up the entire time. Everyone else had ended up nodding off. It was hard keeping your eyes open sitting in the silent darkness when you’d been running for your life the last few days. Jeff was afraid they wouldn’t wake up at the first hint of light if they all fell asleep. He’d stayed awake despite insisting that everyone else try to rest their eyes for a couple of hours. Most of them had slept during the day as they’d hidden on the shelves in the grocery store. Billy had been clinically unconscious for most of the day. That totally counted as taking a break when you were part of this group.

  Jeff thought he was imagining the gradual lightening of the sky at first. The day’s events had rattled him so much that he didn’t even trust his own eyes. He was thrilled that the sun had decided to make an appearance before they’d thought it would. It wasn’t like they could Google what time the sun was supposed to rise in the morning. Especially since they’d all lost their phones and every other bit of personal property on this doomed mission.

  “Suns out. Guns out.” Jeff said loudly. No one else seemed to enjoy the wordplay. Not that he cared about anything right now besides drag racing to Weathertop. They should be able to make it there in under ten minutes if they didn’t bother slowing down for curves.

  Everyone took a quick bio break before they got on their way. It wasn’t like they were planning on stopping at any rest areas along the way. LeBron needed help taking a piss. His puffed up ankle was a nasty looking purple color. He’d ditched the shoe he was wearing since the swelling made it so uncomfortable. Jeff could barely believe LeBron had even been able to drive the truck the night before. The poor kid must’ve been in a ton of pain the entire time.

  For the final sprint Drew took the driver’s seat. Jeff took shotgun while Billy and LeBron’s crippled selves were dumped in the back seat. Thanks to the four wheel drive they were easily able to drive back up on the road. That took a significant load off of Jeff’s mind. He’d been paranoid they’d wake up with the truck stuck in the field. One point of stress had now been removed from the approximately thousand things he was worried about. He was going to need to bum a few Valium off someone once they finally got to Weathertop. His anxiety was through the roof.

  The familiar road was revealed as they drove out of the ditch. They had to drive a few miles then basically just take their first left and they’d be there. They’d driven this road plenty of times from the train yard. They were almost at the turn that would lead them home when the explosions began. Looking out the windows they saw massive clouds of earth being tossed into the air.

  “Mortars.” Billy said staring out the window in the back. LeBron had smashed up next to him to look as well.

  Drew had been driving pretty fast. At the sight of their home being attacked he dropped the hammer. He had to slam on the brakes and squeal to a stop when he got to the road leading to the main entrance. He still overshot the turn by a good thirty yards. Jerking the truck into reverse he looked over his shoulder as he backed up to make the turn. They went backwards past the turn. Drew hit the brakes again and put the truck in drive. Turning to look up the road they’d been driving on he saw two guys on motorcycles coming straight at them.

  Drew growled with rage at the men who’d just attacked his home. Drew didn’t care that the bikers thought this attack was perfectly justified. He didn’t care that a cruiser had launched a harpoon missile at the biker’s homes. These scumbags had just attacked everything he loved. They’d attacked his family.

  Still growling Drew slammed his foot back down on the accelerator. The truck rocketed down the road towards the oncoming bikers. The bikers separated to go around the truck roaring towards them. Drew waited until the last second to slam on the brakes and crank the wheel to the left causing the truck to skid sideways down the road. The biker on the right side of the truck smashed into the back of the truck. He hit them hard enough to stop them from skidding out of control. The bike collided with the back of the truck so hard that it was enveloped in the side of the truck.

  The rider himself had been ejected on down the road. Billy spotted the lump of leather wrapped raw hamburger lying about fifteen yards on the other side of the road from them. The guy looked pretty torn up. The other motorcycle was rapidly disappearing from view. The biker racing for the intersection where he could turn and get the hell out of Dodge. The biker was doing his best to put some serious distance between himself and the large number of well-armed men he knew would be after him momentarily.

  “Truck working?” LeBron asked from the back.

  Drew nodded and let go of the brakes. He accelerated down the road making sure to run over the biker who was spread out on the asphalt. The bike lodged in the back of the truck fell away in a shower of sparks. Racing to catch up to a guy on the open road who obviously knew how to ride a bike they didn’t stand much of a chance. By the time they got to the intersection the guy was gone. It was just as well since the truck that they were in was driving funny anyway. The earlier collision with the now dead biker had screwed up something back there.

  “Alright. Let’s get back to the base. I don’t think that guy’s coming back anytime soon.” Jeff said. In the back of his head he was hoping none of the bikers buddies were still hanging around with mortars. It’d be just their luck that a couple of the attackers were waiting off in the distance to drop one last screw you on the base.

  Drew turned them around and drove the wobbling truck back towards the entryway to the base. They were all worried about what they were going to find when they got there. Expecting it to be bad they were still shocked when they rounded the final curve and could see the entrance to the base. The gigantic doors had been blown completely off. Flames could be seen inside the warehouse space that was right inside the entrance. Drew drove them up the hill to where the helicopters had all been parked at. There was an obvious gap where the two they’d just lost on their last m
ission had been sitting previously.

  The remaining helicopters had been shot up pretty good. The dashboards were riddled with bullet holes. Looking out over the base the places the rockets had hit looked like sink holes. The rockets had made the concrete below crack letting the earth pour into the base. The place may have been designed as a nuclear fallout shelter at the height of the cold war, but no one had ever expected it to survive a direct hit. The bunker busting rockets that’d been dropped on it had been more than a match for some dirt and concrete. They’d been designed to take out insurgents hiding deep in caves in the Middle East after all.

  “How’d they do all of this in such a short amount of time?” LeBron asked.

  “They were organized and knew what they were doing. Tommy said they were ex-military. They’ve been gathering toys from all the armories scattered around Pennsylvania.” Jeff said.

  “Honestly this is some pretty random destruction. Once that fire dies down, it may not be that bad.” Drew said.

  “Dude there’s holes in the roof. This base is no longer anywhere close to being secure enough. I’m guessing SECDEF and the POTUS are already making plans to relocate. Assuming they’re alive. Pretty lame that a half ass bunch of Hells Angels wannabees can take out the working capital of the free world.” Billy said.

  They drove down to the entrance to wait out the fire. The suppression system should have kicked in but who knew the last time that thing had been inspected. The base had been packed with the infected at one point. Those infected had been cleared out via the expenditure of large amounts of ammunition. That ammunition had most likely destroyed some pipes and other system components necessary for the fire control system to work properly. Most likely no one would ever figure out what’d happened. They’d gather what survivors they could and leave. The bombed out base serving as another reminder of the myriad of failed attempts to restore the American dream.

  Bored with watching the flames licking the sides of the doors they ventured up onto the top of the warehouse on foot. They walked around a few of the larger holes they found to see if there was any way they might be able to squeeze in through one of those. At least one of the rockets appeared to have scored a direct hit on some important looking cables. A gigantic rats nest of scorched cables was scattered all around it. That might prove to be a really bad thing if they had no vehicles and needed to abandon this base by nightfall. Especially if those cables turned out to be critical for communicating with the ships they’d need to call on for backup.

  “Fire’s died down!” LeBron called out as Drew and Jeff came walking back down from checking out the bomb blasted holes on top of the base.

  Leaving LeBron in the truck with Billy to guard him Drew and Jeff went into the base. LeBron’s foot was way too messed up for him to be limping around with them. They would’ve just driven the truck into the warehouse, but they weren’t sure about driving the truck into such an overheated space. Especially with the damage to the rear section of the truck that’d happened already. For all they knew they were leaking oil or gas.

  Drew and Jeff were about halfway across the warehouse floor when a group of men in black uniforms converged on them with weapons at the ready. They were forced to their knees for a few minutes with guns pressed to their heads before that got cleared up. The leader of the squad that’d captured them was finally able to reach someone who could confirm who they were. Jeff was super relieved when the patrol leader told them they could stand up. The black clad group of men looked like they really wanted to kill somebody.

  Jeff understood the feeling. These men were professional soldiers charged with securing the base. They’d run a ton of drills as to what to do if there were a breach. Those drills had assumed that if there were a breach it’d be a bunch of the infected pouring in. Other uninfected humans setting up in a field a mile away to drop rockets on them hadn’t been something they’d wargamed. Someone putting C4 all over the front doors to the complex then blasting a few rockets in after blowing the doors off had also not been considered.

  “The men who did this are long gone. We ran into one of them out on the road leading out of here though.” Jeff said once the men had validated their identity and allowed them to stand back up.

  “What happened to the one you ran into?” The black clad warrior asked.

  “He’s still lying there if the coyotes and vultures haven’t found him yet.” Drew said with an evil grin. He’d been pretty amused by the way Jeff had slid that pun in there about running into the biker. He’d especially liked that it went right over everyone else’s head. Or at least he thought it did. It was hard to tell when the guys standing around them were all dressed like ninjas.

  Having ascertained that Jeff was multiple links above them on the chain of command the patrol leader asked if Jeff had any new orders for them. Thinking quickly Jeff asked them to send someone to bring in the truck and help LeBron and Billy to the infirmary. He requested they begin inventorying the vehicles available for an immediate evacuation of the base. If they were able to find working vehicles, he requested they do a few patrols. He wanted to make sure there wasn’t anybody sitting in a thicket somewhere waiting to launch a few more rounds of fireworks.

  Orders given Jeff and Drew turned to head off to check in on Lisa, Yue and the rest of the crew. One of the men from the patrol Jeff had just issued new orders to called out to them. They waited impatiently while the man jogged over to speak to them.

  “Sir. The President wild like you to join him in his office.” The man said once he got close enough to be easily heard. Only the emergency lights were on in the warehouse space. Electrical power had been another victim of the assault.

  “Tell him I’m going to check on someone in sick bay first.” Jeff responded. The guard looked like he didn’t really understand how to process that information. He’d said ‘President’ with the same reverence most people reserve for their personal deities.

  “Let him know that I’m going to check on Yue. He can meet me there if he wants to.” Jeff said irritably. Shaun could wait. Jeff needed to make sure Yue was ok. He also needed to make sure Billy and LeBron got checked out and patched up. Who knew how long it was going to take to find a stretcher in this disaster zone. Jeff and Drew continued heading towards the infirmary to check on Lisa and Yue. They left the baffled guard in his ninja outfit wondering how exactly he was supposed to tell his patrol leader to tell the President he was being blown off.

  “Look up there.” Drew said poking Jeff in the back and pointing at the ceiling.

  They were in a hallway leading to the stairs that went down to the sickbay area. There was a pile of dirt and concrete chunks on the floor. The whole scene was eerily lit up by the red emergency lighting that was the main source of illumination for the inside of the base now. Jeff looked at where Drew was pointing and could just make out the missing section of roof above. It could pose a roof collapse hazard later, but Jeff knew that wasn’t what Drew was trying to point out. The cracked ceilings would be welcoming doorways for the infected who’d be all over the base come nighttime.

  There was always the option of going deeper and sealing off sections of the base. The problem with that being once the crawlerz got in they wouldn’t be leaving. They’d be hanging out waiting for the non-infected to come out of hiding. That would happen once the survivors in the sealed off sections of the base started running out of food. This base was no longer a viable place for them to be.

  Sliding past the caved in section of the hallway Drew and Jeff quickened their pace. It was a little odd that they hadn’t run into more people yet. Although the people who were inside may just be scared to open their doors. They may think the crawlerz were already inside the base. They wouldn’t have any way of knowing for sure the mortar rounds hadn’t started striking until dawn. For that matter there may actually be a few of the infected roaming the halls already.

  Arriving at the infirmary they saw a lot more activity. People who’d been in the sections that
caved in were being carried in for treatment. The reason people weren’t wandering around in the hallways was because they were on the other side of the base trying to help dig out people who’d been trapped by the cave ins. A dirt covered doctor standing by the nurse station recognized Jeff immediately. He nodded at them as they rushed past him to go check on Lisa and Yue.

  Chapter 26: We Gotta Get Out of This Place

  “Where’s LeBron?” Yue asked when she looked up at Drew and Jeff standing at the foot of her bed. Harley had already given them each a big bro hug. He’d been sitting in a chair between the beds Yue and Lisa were in. Lisa was still fast asleep. Drew smiled thinking of the crap he could give her for sleeping through a rocket attack. She’d undoubtedly make up some lame excuse citing extreme pain and drugs and such.

  “He’s coming. He screwed his foot up jumping out of a parking garage to get away from a bunch of crawlerz.” Jeff answered.

  “Why are you dressed like that?” Lisa asked. She’d finally woken up. Drew had wandered over and started tickling her feet.

  “We had to grab whatever clothes we could get off the dead biker gang.” Drew answered cryptically. Lisa, Harley and Yue were looking at the two of them like they were crazy. It took a lot to throw Harley off so Drew felt like maybe he should reassess how he was answering questions. Looking down at the motorcycle jacket covered in patches and blood that he was wearing over his horribly stained t-shirt he realized Lisa was asking a perfectly valid question.