by Morse, K. A.
“Okay, everyone, we can split up again or stay together as we look for anyone still alive on this fuckin' base. Personally, I feel it would be best if we all stayed together, and safer," I explain as I look around. I can see the sun is finally coming up. Thankfully, we won’t need flashlights much longer.
“Yes, I think being out in the open like this, we need to stick together,” Carter says as she turns off her flashlight and replaces it in her jacket pocket.
“They should have a Central Command station that controls where the missile was launched from. Or whatever the fuck you saw. We find that and we should find someone alive. At least the one who hit the launch button,” I tell them all.
“Do you have any hope that anyone else is alive? You sound like everyone one here is dead. What the fuck aren’t you telling us, Metzger?” Carter asks me as if I know anything that is fuckin’ going on here. “How the shit do you know where to go if your ass hasn’t been on this base before?”
She is now accusing me that I'm lying to her. “My ass has never been here. I don’t even know what fuckin' state Ft. Hutchinson is in,” I feel like I’m now screaming at her. Fuck, she can make my blood boil. I choke down the rest of what I want to say.
I need to focus on the task at hand and find out what the hell happened on this base. My eyes are too zoned in on her full lips now. I want to slap myself to wake up from her trance, but I resist that urge.
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but it’s starting to rain. I’d like to get to some cover, any fuckin' where but here in the middle of a field. Let’s get our shit together!” Harris is now yelling at us all as the first drops of rain hit me.
I can see the hole in the ground where the missile came out. About three miles from it, I see another building that has to be a command station. Now I take off in a sprint toward the structure, only looking back to make sure everyone is keeping pace with me. Gertrude is right there with us, too, which I'm quite impressed by. She has not skipped a beat with everything that’s going on. I glance back again to see Carter has fallen behind some and is holding her side. The rain starts pouring down on us harder, so we pick up our pace. Once I get to the door, I find it locked. I slam my body into it trying to get it open, but it doesn’t budge. On my next attempt, I feel another body hit the door with mine. Still nothing, damn thing. Carter finally makes it to us huffing and puffing.
“Shit, move out of the fucking way, I got this,” she says with a devilish grin, but she’s bent over, still trying to catch her breath.
“If the two of us can’t break it down, there’s no way in hell you can in the shape you’re in,” I explain to her, then I see her stand and reach her hand into her flight jacket.
She comes out with an M9, aiming it right at me. “Okay, you might want to move, asshat. Unless you’d like me to shoot more than the door lock.”
I quickly move, but almost not fast enough before she gets her shots off, two of them to be exact. First shot misses, the second is dead on, but the door still hasn’t budged. Harmon is shaking her head as she walks up to the door.
“Metzger you fuckin idiot, grab my plasma torch, this door has a mag lock. There’s no way to get in unless we cut it open,” Harmon says as she turns around, so I can get it out of her pack.
Once it’s retrieved, she quickly grabs it out of my hands and puts on her goggles. “Now take your jacket off and give me some cover while I cut this bitch,” she demands as she turns the torch on and turns to the door.
I do as she asked and hand Harris the other half of my jacket. It felt like an eternity holding the jacket up while she worked on the door. Once she’s done, she gives it a tug to let me know. As we let the jacket down, the door swings open.
“So, don’t be an idiot next time and remember your training,” Harmon reminds me with a smirk, but lets me enter before her.
I bring my gun into position, making sure my flashlight is back on. We don’t know what we are walking into, but I'm pretty sure all we'll find is blood and bodies. This building seems to be different, only one big room with a viewing window. I come around to the control panel and see a body on the ground covered in blood with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The gun is still clenched in his hand. As I turn to the back controls, written in blood across the bottom of the view screen is:
“Who in the hell is Ann. Why have they unleashed her?” Harris comes up behind me asking.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” I reply with a shrug. Then I look to Gertrude who all of a sudden looks like she’s going to lose it.
She starts stripping until she’s only in her bra and panties. We all have our mouths open now as she frantically runs around the room looking for something. Our flashlights follow her until she finds the bathroom. The water starts running, and she looks like she’s taking a bath in the sink. Carter walks toward Gertrude and I hear her say, “Hey, are you okay?”
“Hell no, we are all going to die. There’s nothing we can do to stop it,” Gertrude tells her as she comes over to me and grabs her roller bag from me. I forgot I even had it wrapped on my arm.
She unzips her bag and gets some dry clothes out, still mumbling to herself as she starts picking through it. “We are all fucked,” Gertrude tells us all as she puts her shirt on.
She isn’t shy at all. Since she said we were all dead, I guess she didn’t need to be anymore. My mind is racing, seeing the message on the window, and now with Gertrude saying we are all going to die because of this Ann person. Along with the helicopter crash and dead bodies all over this base, I might already be in hell.
“What in the shit are you going on about?” Harmon asks Gertrude as she has found a seat and pulls one over for Carter, too.
“You all might want to take a seat for this,” Gertrude states as I move closer to the rest of the group.
“Okay, please fill us in.” I let out a crazy laugh; that’s the only thing I can do at this moment in time.
“There is no way to sugar coat this,” Gertrude starts off, her face grim. “Ann is a biological weapon. There’s no cure, and the side effects are devastating. Mainly death,” she adds in her sickeningly-sweet southern accent.
“So, are we going to die? How would we get exposed?” Carter pipes up. Her hand is on her side again.
“I want you to answer that, but, Carter, can you please, for the love of everything, tell us why the hell do you keep holding your side?” I’m now demanding. I can feel the anger on my face. I’m not sure what I’m angry about.
“It’s nothing. Just bruised in the crash. I’ll live,” Carter says with a cocky smirk, but she cringes in pain as she does.
“Lift up your shirt and let me see,” Harris intervenes now with worry in his eyes, and he rushes to her side.
“Really? You’ve been trying to get up my shirt since we met, Harris. Don’t think I’ll fall for that now, either,” Carter tells him as she bats him away from her. “Gertrude, how would we have come into contact with this bio-weapon?” she asks her with real concern all over her face.
“My guess, the missile. Once it hit the right altitude it exploded into the atmosphere and it’s what made the rain. And we are now covered in Ann.” Gertrude is now pacing the floor. “There’s no escape. We’ll feel the effects soon. Well, maybe . . . not everyone had a bad reaction, or any reaction, to Ann. One out of four didn’t show any symptoms.”
She keeps going on, but it’s starting to hurt my brain. Then I notice Harmon’s head is hung down and she’s twitching. Her breath is so heavy I can hear it from where I stand. As I start walking towards her, she lunges at Carter, trying to bite her. Harris grabs Carter’s chair and pulls her away quickly, as I reach Harmon, pulling her back. Harmon slowly turns to me. Her eyes are glazed over. She doesn’t look like she’s in there anymore, but my brain doesn’t compute a hundred percent.
“Harmon, Harmon what the fuck is wrong with you?” I demand as she hisses at me, trying to bite my arms. She can’t get to my hands since they are holding
her shoulders.
Then I hear it, the gunshot. The warmth of the blood and brain matter splattering my face; all I can think is thank fucking God my mouth was closed. Harmon slumps in my grip. Tears now fill my eyes, but I hold them back. I can’t let anyone see me weak. Fuck them. I lay Harmon on the floor. Furiously, I turn and see Harris has the gun in his hand. I go directly to the bathroom to wash all the blood off of my face. I discard my jacket, too, I can’t wear that anymore, its covered in her blood. I remember I have a couple things in the pockets I might need, so I pick the jacket back up and grab them, throwing them in my pack and put my bag back on, my jacket still in hand. When I exit the bathroom, everyone is looking at me.
“What the hell are you guys staring at?” I can hear the hurt in my own voice.
I see Harmon just laying there, and I can’t just leave her this way. So, with my jacket I cover what’s left of her face with it. I don’t even want to see my face right now. Marni Harmon was my partner. Since we finished Ranger school, she has been my ride or die. I don’t want to look at or talk to anyone right now. All I want is sleep and to forget the horrors I’ve just seen. This nightmare needs to end, but I can’t leave her body in here while I try to sleep. It will feel like she’s staring at me.
“Harris, can you help me take her outside? After we get a couple hours of sleep, we can find a place to bury her,” I tell him while trying to get my emotions in check.
Harmon’s body is heavier than I thought or remember from just a moment ago. I have her by her shoulders, and Harris grabs her legs. We take her out of the door and put her body against the building; the rain is still pouring down on us. I gently lay her down, but Harris can’t wait to drop her.
Once we go back in, I take off my pack and find a corner. Using my bag as a pillow, I lay down and try to drown out the noise of everyone talking. The sun is slowly coming up, so I make sure my back is to the viewing window.
O+ Blood Type
Brandon Harris
This mother fucker just drops his friend outside and then goes back inside like it’s nothing. Now this piece of shit is in the corner trying to go to sleep. I feel like I should go kick his ass. If anything ever happened to Carter, I would treat her body with a little more respect than that. I rejoin Carter and the doctor.
“Okay, Gertrude. You never finished what you were saying about Ann. So, one in four don’t show any signs. Do these people have anything in common?” I inquire as I pull up a chair and sit next to Carter and Gertrude.
“Yes. All people with O+ blood haven’t seemed to turn, but AB- nine out of ten died in five minutes of being exposed. They were bringing me here to help with a cure. Or at least to see if one could be found. Of all the scientists that they had here, no one had come as close as I did to the hope of finding a cure,” Gertrude tells us as she puts her head in her hands. All of a sudden, she pops her head back up and tells us, “We should all get a bit of sleep like Trevor. Pray one of us doesn’t turn while we sleep or we are all dead. Oh, and ‘Ann’ is short for ‘annihilation.’”
“What the fuck?” comes out of Carter’s mouth. “What fucking blood type are you?” She asks the good doctor as we know each others. We are both O+.
“I’m not O+ if that’s what you mean,” she responds, her head now looking down.
I try to not think of it since we can’t change this shit, but I’m in utter shock. “So, let’s all take different corners, so if one of us does happen to become infected we might hear them coming. Then we’ll have a better chance to fight off anyone who might have turned,” I explain to them as I get up to find a spot to go sit down. “So, I’ll take first watch and wake asshat up over there for the next one.”
I prop myself up in my corner where the whole room can be seen. I see Carter take off her pack and jacket to use them both as a pillow. She’s at the opposite side of the room from me. Gertrude is to the left of me and already laying down, her back to us. If any of these fuckheads get sick, I want to be ready to fight. I change my mind and sit. Sleep somehow found me as I now discover myself waking up to a strange noise. Fuck, how did I fall asleep? My eyes first look to Carter who hasn’t moved from where she fell asleep. Then I turn to Gertrude. She’s slowly crawling toward Carter. I scramble to my feet and get to her before she gets to Carter.
“CARTER, CARTER!” I start yelling, she finally starts to stir as I’m holding Gertrude back from her.
Once she sees what’s going on, she jumps up quicker than I have ever seen her move before. She pulls out her M9 and aims it towards Gertrude.
“What the hell, Carter . . . maybe she’s sleep eating?” I yell, knowing it's not true.
“Really? Now move your fat ass out of the way. She has definitely turned. I don’t want to get bit and all that shit,” she says as she waits for me to move.
I quickly let go and move away. Carter lets two rounds go, hitting Gertrude dead center in her head. Gertrude then falls to the floor, blood going everywhere. Metzger finally wakes up to the sound of the gun. You’d think an Army Ranger would sleep a lot lighter than this shit. He’s looking at us to see what the hell is going on.
“Why the fuck did you kill her?” Metzger demands as he is now standing. He rubs his eyes, yawns, and stretches like that didn’t happen or matter.
“Looks like you could give two shits about her or Harmon. I think you only care about yourself!” I spout at him with anger in my voice and my fists clenched. “So fuck off, Jim. You’re not welcome here anymore.”
Metzger gets in my face in two seconds flat, staring me down, but I don’t move a muscle.
“Alright. Boys, let's put our dicks back in our pants. I don’t know about you guys, but this virus is out and turning people. I need to get to my daughter. I don’t know how far the rain went, if it went all over the world. But if there’s a chance she’s out there with these creatures, I need to get back to her as soon as I can,” Carter tells us as she goes to collect her gear. “You guys can come if you want, but I'm not sticking around here while she’s home with Jenn and her family not knowing who’s okay and who’s not.”
“Why can’t you just call her?” Metzger asks with a puzzled look on his face. He is also grabbing his gear now.
I go grab my stuff, too. I would do anything for Carter and Ella. They are my family. “Metzger, you are an idiot. That EMP knocked out everything on this base. We are going to have to find the closest town, you dipshit.” I’m now rolling my eyes as I head to the door.
“Let’s find the ammo dump. We don’t know how many more of those infected are out there. I’m going to need more ammo.” I think I see a smirk on Carter’s face as she tells us that. “And some fresh clothes.”
“I second that,” I say as I exit the building, and the sun hits me in the eyes, blinding me.
I go to grab my sunglasses out of my side pant pocket. As I pull them out I find they're broken. “That fuckin’ sucks, those were my favorite pair,” I mumble to myself as I let them drop to the ground.
I put my hand up over my eyes to shield from the sun and to see what direction on the base we need to go to find the ammo. Also more guns. The main base is back to the left of us. Carter is right at my side as we make our way to the left. I’m guessing Metzger is close behind, but I couldn’t give a rat’s ass if he comes with us or not. We don’t really talk as we make our way to the first building. Our M4s automatically come up as we close in, since we don’t know what will be waiting for us. Coming upon the first building, we see the door is standing wide open. We slowly go in and see this is not where we want to be and head back out.
“What if this place doesn’t have a fuckin’ ammo dump?” I mumble mainly to myself as we move on to the next one.
“Okay, this is creepy,” I hear Carter whisper next to me as we walk down the roadway.
There seems to be nothing moving on this base. Ft. Hutchinson seems like a ghost town.
How long has the virus been free on this base? Were we sent into a death trap?
“Carter, calm your beautiful tits, it’s fine, and I’m good,” I tell her, slowly getting up. Pulling my hand from my ear I see a bit of blood. I wipe it on my pants when they aren’t looking.
Lab coats mean this isn’t the one we are looking for, either. As we head back out, the sun is in full force now beating down on us. My stomach starts to grumble, reminding me I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving,” I tell them as we come upon the next unmarked housing.
“I could eat,” I hear Metzger pipe behind me.
Chow Time
Lacey Carter
All these boys do is think with their dicks and stomachs. I know I’m starving, but I need to get the ammo and get on the road to my daughter.
“Let’s find some MRE’s we can take with us and get this shit show on the fucking road,” I can feel myself almost yelling with frustration at this point. We need to pick up the pace and get to the next town.
