Crawlerz: Book 5: Off the Rails

by R. S. Merritt

  “We’re not using any cool code words?” Drew joked when Harley got done telling the operators in charge of the radio what to communicate back to base.

  “I’m not super worried about these guys breaking the encrypted signaling. If they’re able to figure that part out, then I don’t think calling Shaun by some weird code name is going to confuse them for too long.” Harley replied.

  “Don’t let their looks fool you. These guys were the brains and muscle behind the largest narcotics distribution network in North America. They didn’t do that without a good understanding of logistics and technology.” Jeff said.

  “Got it. I’ll be careful not to underestimate these drug dealing motorcycle enthusiasts.” Harley responded. Jeff’s comment had his grey matter moving. These guys were ruthless and loyal. They’d managed to take over an entire state and keep a community operational under impossible circumstances. Harley saw why Jeff wanted them so badly as allies. They’d bring a ton of sorely needed skills to the table. These guys had off the chart survival skills and tactical know how. They just needed to stop killing one another long enough to figure out how to work together.

  “Watch out for his goon squad. The rest of them were mostly just your everyday run of the mill chaps wearing drug dealer. The core group were hard though. A bunch of them were ex-military. They’re the ones that blew up Weathertop then bombed the trainyard. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think Tommy would be so cocky.” Drew added.

  The convoy rolled out. The lead Humvee outpacing everyone else by at least a tenth of a mile. The rest of the group stayed tight. They kept the truck towards the rear of the convoy to keep it protected. That was their safe place. If the enemy blew it up, then they’d be struggling to find a place to spend the night where the crawlerz wouldn’t show up. Even if they won the battle, they could still lose the war if night fell and they had no place to go.

  An hour into the drive the operators in the truck got the message that the President had ordered attack helicopters to fly in and land close by to back them up. There were also bombers standing by. It was time to show this pissant gang that they couldn’t hope to challenge the government. The message was also relayed that proceeding forward was at their own initiative. They could choose to fall back at any time. Shaun was fine with them deciding to go in as part of the assault instead of putting up a white flag to try and negotiate a peaceful resolution. Leading an assault was probably safer than trying to cozy up to the nest of killers and thugs.

  “Oh crap!” Jeff blurted out.

  “Leave the stove on?” Drew asked immediately.

  “Forget to feed the cat?” Harley piled on.

  “No. We need some kind of white flag. Anybody have sheets or towels or anything?” Jeff asked.

  “No sir. I typically do my laundry prior to leaving on these missions.” Harley answered straight faced.

  “Ok shut up. We need some kind of actual white flag. Let’s pull over at the next house and grab something. They’re bound to have something white we can use.” Jeff said quickly. He’d started talking quickly to cut Drew off before he could add to Harley’s laundry comment.

  They’d very recently passed an exit. Jeff stopped the convoy and sent a team back to that exit to procure some sort of white banner for them to use. About twenty minutes later the team radioed in to let them know they’d entered a house but couldn’t find any white sheets. They wanted to know if teal or pink would work since they were pretty light colors.

  Jeff thought he may have to make Harley and Drew ride in another car. The request to use a teal or pink banner had sent them both into spasms of uncontrollable laughter. Between hearing one of the funniest things ever and the stress of being about an hour from being blown up it was the perfect storm. Drew was wiping away tears he was laughing so hard. Harley was struggling to loosen up his body armor because he was having problems breathing.

  Jeff had to reach out to the team directly to order them to find a large white sheet to use as their banner. Multiple white sheets would be even better. When he asked them if they wanted to ride into battle with a big pink flag in front of them, Drew came dangerously close to pissing himself. Harley opened his door to roll around on the ground when the geniuses they’d sent to find a sheet asked if one of the ones with wrinkly corners would work.

  “You mean a fitted sheet?” Jeff asked once he was able to work his mouth properly after hearing the question. He’d made the man repeat the broadcast because he couldn’t hear over the sounds of Drew laughing and Harley trying to breathe. When the two in the back had heard the man ask about the ‘wrinkly corners’ Jeff had gotten really worried he may have to call for a medic.

  “We’re all going to die.” The squad member driving their Humvee said when the Humvee containing the newly acquired white sheets finally rolled by. No one could really argue with him. Death seemed like the most likely outcome given the current situation. Once the clowns had figured out how to attach the sheet to the lead car the convoy rolled on.

  An hour later the lead car called back to report a motorcycle had peeled out in front of them. The lone rider had taken off towards the bridge leading to the enemy city. Now that he was actually driving towards the enemy Jeff decided a show of force might be the way to go. He had the operators reach out to Fayetteville and request the attack helicopters and bombers conduct a flyby. If they were shot at, they should respond by unleashing hell.

  “Remind them that there are women and children down there. It’s not all Tommy’s guys. There are a lot of regular people who have nothing to do with this fight.” Jeff relayed to the operator. If it was just Tommy and his men running around Jeff would’ve been fine with dropping some bombs and moving on with their lives. It was the noncombatants in Pennsylvania that the gang leader held sway over that was making Jeff hesitate. Those people were alive largely through the efforts of Tommy and his men. Jeff didn’t want to have to kill them because of Tommy and his men’s actions now. Hopefully Tommy felt the same way.

  Chapter 30: Striking a Deal with the Devil

  The lead car drove slowly across the bridge. The white sheet tied to the end of a long pool cleaning broom. The man in the turret was trying to keep the flag from falling over while simultaneously scanning the bridge ahead for any threats. It was very probable that the bridge they were driving over was wired to explode. Even if it wasn’t wired to explode the men that they were going up against would have no problem dropping a couple of mortar rounds on it which would have the same effect.

  The duo of attack helicopters flitting around like gigantic, green bumble bees should make the gang hesitate to pull the trigger. Timed to coincide with the lead Humvee getting about halfway across the bridge a gigantic shadow swooped down to fly low over the city. The massive rumble of the bombers engines impossible to ignore. The message very clear. We come in peace, but we have no problem killing you all.

  When it came their turn to cross the bridge Drew almost passed out. He didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath across the ridiculously long bridge until they were about two thirds of the way across it. The radio chatter he was hearing on his headsets informed him that a large contingent of bikes and trucks were coming out of the city to meet them. No one had fired any shots yet. Drew found himself wishing they would. It’d be so much less scary just charging into battle. This driving into what could be a trap stuff sucked.

  Coming off the bridge they drove another half a mile and stopped. A line of trucks and bikes was parked on the road ahead blocking them from going any further. The lead Humvee was sitting in the middle of the road with the bent pool pole holding the white sheet out in front of it. The soldier up in the turret had decided he’d much rather have his hands on the large caliber machine gun mounted there. He was ready to rock and roll if these bastards gave him half a chance. He’d admired Captain Lindsey greatly. He was having a hard time believing she’d died in some half assed ambush conducted by these felons.

  Pulling up beside them Harley
wormed his way up into the turret of the Humvee they were driving. He barely fit. Drew was wondering if maybe they were going to have to slather some Vaseline on him or something. The rest of the convoy rolled up behind them and moved into position. Both sides continued to eye each other over the fifty yard gap between them. The Humvees formed an impressive firing line. Grenade launchers and machine guns would shred the meager defenses of the men on the road facing them. In case that wasn’t enough of a deterrent one of the attack choppers flew up to hover behind them. It landed after making a show of aiming its weapon systems at the biker gang.

  Three men broke off from the rest of the bikers to walk towards the line of Humvees. Even from this distance Tommy stood out. He exuded an aura of confidence. It extended out to the way he walked. The two men with him were similarly cocky. Jeff was about to take a run at busting that cockiness wide open.

  “If I raise my right hand, I want one of those men walking with Tommy shot dead.” Jeff said before opening his door to get out of the Humvee.

  “Ok. I’m going to put one of my snipers on it. I start plugging away with this bad boy up here I’m going to kill a lot more than one of them.” Harley answered. Drew worked his way out of the Humvee to follow Jeff. Harley was working on communicating the right hand order to one of the remaining suicide squad snipers.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Jeff asked Drew.

  “Out with you to talk to the dirtball that keeps trying to kill us. How about we just kill him now and talk to his second in command?” Drew asked. He was serious. He’d love to see Tommy laying on the ground in a pool of blood.

  “Ok. If you get killed your sister is going to kill us both though.” Jeff answered.

  “We need a third.” Drew said. Before Jeff could tell him not to Drew had invited Billy to join them. Jeff sighed and waited for Billy to work his way over. At least Drew hadn’t asked one of the idiots who couldn’t figure out what kind of sheet they needed for a truce flag.

  Billy arrived in time for them to only need to walk out about ten yards to meet with Tommy. Tommy calmly waited for them to show up. He didn’t seem the slightest bit alarmed by the line of weapons pointing in his general direction.

  “Tell me why I don’t order my men to just kill you right now?” Jeff said by way of greeting. He asked the question loudly and firmly. He didn’t bother trying to make it sound like he cared one way or the other. Despite the heavy handed threat the smile on Tommy’s face never faltered.

  “You’ve got more lives than a bag full of kittens. Good to see you again. Takes some big brass balls to come back out here after we’ve already whipped you a few times.” Tommy said admiringly.

  Jeff raised his right hand. The man behind Tommy fell to the ground to the accompaniment of a single rifle shot. Neither Jeff nor Tommy blinked as they stared at one another. Everyone around them had shouldered their weapons and were getting ready to rumble. They looked to their leaders to see what they should do. The bikers knew they were screwed if this got real. The members of the death squad Tommy had put together were carefully arranged in surrounding buildings waiting for the order from Tommy.

  A gun going off by accident right now would start a shooting war that wouldn’t stop until the bikers were eradicated. There was very little doubt they’d lose any kind of serious confrontation. At the very least they’d be scattered to the winds and forced to give up all the work they’d put into making Pennsylvania habitable.

  “What do you want?” Tommy finally asked.

  “You’ll be named the legitimate governor of Pennsylvania. You’ll remain in that post until we get through the current crisis. You’ll release our pilot back to us. You’ll follow the orders of the President and his authorized representatives. You’ll remain within the borders of Pennsylvania and work to rid it of any traces of the infected. If called on to provide men or expertise, you’ll provide it.” Jeff rattled off the basics of the agreement.

  “What if I say no?” Tommy asked. He actually sounded like he was curious. They could’ve been sitting down having dinner at a nice restaurant instead of standing in the middle of a road with a hundred guns pointed at them.

  “We’d all love for you to say no. We really want to hurt you. What we’d do is send in the bombers to hit every spot we’ve seen humans moving around during the day. Then we’d send in a few thousand troops to secure the state. If you want to say no right now these guys behind me are ready to avenge the captain that you killed in cold blood.” Jeff stopped to let that sink in. Tommy was looking a little less like his cocky self. He didn’t look defeated yet though.

  “You want me to shoot this prick in the leg or something? He can still hold this state together from a wheelchair.” Billy blurted out.

  “Take a foot.” Jeff said clearly. This wasn’t part of the plan but what the hell. He wanted to see that smirk wiped off Tommy’s face. He wanted that more than he cared about Pennsylvania right now. Who knew? This could even work.

  “I’ll do it!” Tommy yelped when Billy aimed his rifle at his foot.

  “Yeah, but now I have a round in the chamber.” Billy said stepping forward.

  “Tell your men to hold their fire.” Jeff ordered Tommy. Tommy turned around and yelled at the men behind him to hold their fire. The one man they’d already shot was laying in the road staring sightlessly up into the clear blue sky. Tommy’s other guard was looking left and right rapidly. His eyes looked glazed over from whatever medicinal courage he’d consumed before walking out here with his supposedly fearless leader.

  “Ok. They won’t shoot. Do you have something for me to sign or how do you think this will work?” Tommy asked.

  “No need to sign anything. You’re in charge of Pennsylvania. Accomplish your mission. Screw around and we’ll send in a team to kill you. People will come out regularly to check on you and give you your marching orders. We own you now. Do you understand?” Jeff leaned forward into Tommy’s face.

  “I get it man. You’re the law.” Tommy said.

  “On your knees and say it.” Jeff said. Tommy hesitantly raised an eyebrow and stayed on his feet.

  “I said I get it.” Tommy said.

  “Shoot the other guy in the face.” Jeff ordered.

  Billy shot the other guy in the face. Tommy hit his knees. He was a tough guy up to a point. His survival instincts were sharp though. He got the message that Jeff wasn’t playing around. Tommy had engaged with tough guys his whole criminal career. He’d been in charge of a huge crime syndicate that was in bed with the cartels. People to whom human lives meant nothing. He knew when someone wasn’t bluffing. His little payback trip up to Weathertop had backfired spectacularly. Also, now that he was thinking about it a legit title like governor of Pennsylvania sounded pretty good.

  “I get it man. I swear we’ll be loyal. You’re the new boss man. I’ll get my crews in line. You’ll have safe passage and I’ll get this state secure. That all?” Tommy was proud of his voice not cracking.

  Jeff ordered Tommy to go gather the representatives of all the gangs and every other leader from the group of people behind them. Tommy gathered himself together and walked back over to his people. He spoke to them briefly and they walked over. Every one of them fronting like they were the biggest and the baddest. The dead bodies in the street didn’t mean a whole lot to them. There were dead bodies rotting away in every corner of every town and city in this brave new world. The fact that Tommy had gone to his knees like that had shaken more than a few of them though. The ones who’d known the man for a while knew he wouldn’t have done that unless he saw an advantage in it. They also knew it meant this tall gangly gumby looking dude meant business.

  “You’re here to swear allegiance to the United States government. Do not take this oath lightly. Any of you want to walk away now?” Jeff said loudly by way of greeting. The people in the assembled crowd rightly assumed that if they walked away Jeff would have them shot. When none of them took him up on the walking away Jeff told them
all to drop to their knees. The few who hesitated quickly changed their minds when Billy asked if he should shoot them.

  “Next time don’t bother asking.” Jeff answered loudly. The rest of the hard core lot dropped to their knees.

  Jeff then made the entire group repeat the pledge of allegiance. A few more of the suicide squad had come over to support them in controlling the crowd of kneeling bikers. They walked around during the pledge making sure the men were saying it loudly and proudly. A large man in a black trench coat was on his knees but his lips weren’t moving. He was simply kneeling there watching everyone recite the pledge like they were in third grade or something.

  One of the squad noticed and kicked him square in the face. The steel toed combat boots the soldier was wearing broke the man’s jaw. Laying on his back moaning in pain the man looked up in time to see the sole of the boot slamming into his face. The soldier kept it up until the man was ringing death’s doorbell. If he did manage to pull out of it, he was going to have a hard time getting hats to properly fit ever again.