Operation Z | Book 1 | Uprising

by Szepanski, G. D.

  The second vehicle had been a large luxury SUV. Upon exiting their vehicles, they pulled a small armory of weapons out from inside the truck to equip themselves. They set up a simple security perimeter around their vehicles and sent a four person incursion team toward the store entrance. Something looked familiar about the leader of the motley crew, but Tom couldn’t place the face.

  The store’s doors slid open to let the intruders enter, which surprised Tom. He guessed the emergency backup batteries hadn’t died yet. The group headed straight to the pharmacy area. Great, a group of well-armed junkies. Tom decided his best course of action would be to observe and only engage them if absolutely necessary since they outnumber him. His shotgun held only four shells, and he would have to be perfect if he attacked them. An effective weapon, but not against a larger group of armed enemies. There was no reason to defend the store anymore, since everyone else had abandoned it. So he found a spot to wait and watch them from.

  Being a trained combat Marine, he thought he had been stealthy, but maybe Tom had gotten too old because next thing he knew a voice said, “Slowly, put the gun down and keep your hands where I can see them. Don’t do anything stupid.”

  Shit! Wait a minute, that voice. It sounded familiar. It's one Tom had heard many times as a kid but not since then. He had a tough time placing both the voice and the face at first, but then the answer popped into his head.

  “Donald, is that you?” Can it be the same Donald Bishop he grew up with in Virginia, all the way up here in Maine?

  After a brief delay, the voice responded. “No way! Tom Johnson? What are you doing here in Maine? The last time I saw you, we were both teenagers.”

  Tom noticed the recognition in his old friend’s eyes and watched him turn his weapon away from him.

  “After graduation, I joined the Marines. It turned out I wasn’t crazy about being a squad leader. So, I took the opportunity at my next re-up to retire and leave the Marines for good. I came home and took a position in security at Walt’s place. Until you showed up, I thought I was the last man standing.”

  “There isn’t anyone else in the store?”

  “No one living that I know of. Everyone started calling in sick a few days ago.”

  “Tom, I have a group of people with me. We planned on grabbing some supplies and then heading up to my father’s cabin to ride this thing out. Come with us. I could use another friend and a trained combat Marine at that.”

  This chance to join his old friend might fill the empty spot that had grown in Tom’s life. He had drifted along with no purpose since he left the military and the divorce. It would be an opportunity for him to live life again. So it took him no time to decide. “Hmm, let me think about it. Hell yeah! Since my divorce, I have nothing left here and could use some company.”

  “Do all of Walt’s security forces carry shotguns around the store?”

  “No,” Tom laughed, “I did my shopping when things turned bad here. There’s plenty of ammo and more weapons in sporting goods.”

  “Ammo we can use, but I have better weapons outside in my truck.”

  ###

  Donald introduced Tom to all of his crew, but there one light who shined bright in the bunch, Helen. She was a voluptuous beauty with short inky hair. He hadn’t laid eyes on a beauty like her for a long time, and he found he couldn’t take his eyes off her. But Tom knew Helen would be way out of his league, since she had to be much younger than him. The odd thing was, she seemed to give off signs she might be interested in him. Love at first sight? He sure hoped so.

  Tom used his knowledge of the store to help them get what they needed as fast as possible. They loaded both the truck and trailer with all they could hold. Tom volunteered to ride in the back of the truck. It would allow him an unobstructed view so he could watch over the group (Helen in particular) assuring they would arrive at the cabin unharmed. With a renewed purpose, Tom felt alive again rather than just existing.

  ###

  Their trip had been uneventful, and they arrived at an unmarked turn off into the woods without incident. The road was narrow and continued deeper into the shadows of the woods. An imposing-looking gate lay ahead of them. Donald leaned out the truck window and entered a code into a keypad and the gate complained as it opened. The power at Walt’s went out two days ago, so he wondered how the electricity still worked here in the middle of nowhere.

  On the far side of the gate, they found a large open field. A smart strategy for whoever built this place since any attacking force would have to cross a field with no cover before they could attack the camp. Even if they could breach the gate, no one be able to sneak inside. The road continued again before it reached another massive gate. They didn’t have this much security on the average military base Tom visited as a Marine. Donald punched in another code, and the second gate yawned open.

  Another open field laid beyond this gate. The second field provided another excellent line of sight for anyone defending the camp. As they traveled past the gate, Tom noticed bollards had popped up from the ground as they drove by. This is Secret Service White House type security. A long way off in the distance, Tom spied wind turbines spinning in the breeze. This explained the electricity required to open the gates. The place was off the grid with its own electrical supply.

  They drove further and encountered a third gate. This one looked like it came from a Medieval Castle since it had a dry mote in front of the wall. This third wall had to be at least 20 feet tall. When Donald punched the code in, a drawbridge descended while a gate opened behind it. Donald’s father ran an illegitimate business, but he must have made a killing (both figuratively and literally) to build a camp with security like this. Who said crime didn’t pay?

  When they cleared the fence, the camp itself came into view. If Joey classified this as a cabin, Tom wondered what their old home in Virginia looked like now. At least five unique buildings were visible from where he sat. The largest building stood three stories tall and over 100 feet long. Another enormous building had garage doors on the front of it, and a few wind turbines laid scattered behind these buildings too.

  Tom had been so in awe of his surroundings that he almost didn’t notice the three men who stood in front of the large building.

  “Don, look alive! Three armed men at 11 o'clock!”

  The truck braked hard, and Tom jumped from the truck bed to take up a defensive position. The engine block sat between him and the three men as he aimed the Colt AR-15 at them. Two younger men hold M1 Carbines in a relaxed, ready manner with the barrels pointed toward the ground. The old man stood in the front and carried only an enormous smile. He looked like a demented band director.

  Donald took a defensive position by the open door of his truck and held his tactical shotgun. Before either of them could say a word, the smiling man said, “Donald, we knew you would arrive today. It is so good to see you and your friends! My name is Vincent, and I was a friend of your father’s and the caretaker of this camp. Welcome.”

  CHAPTER 20 - DONALD BISHOP

  DONALD BISHOP HAD warm memories of traveling to a hunting cabin with his father as a child. He had been about Matthew’s age when they took their first trip together. The hunting cabin of his youth had been small and rustic. It featured one large common room with two small bedrooms, but his childhood mind pictured a castle in the woods. His adult self would have called the cabin a shack and would have looked for the closest hotel to sleep in instead.

  His father taught Donald how to survive off the land during these trips. How to scavenge for edible plants, hunt game, and fish. How to make a fire and prepare his catch so it would be safe to eat. It didn’t matter what they discovered in the woods because Donald treasured the time spent with his father. All these special times occurred before the night he discovered Joey had been a monster all along.

  These memories shaped what he thought they might find once they reached the cabin in the woods of Maine. The simple structured he pictured would provide a
jam-packed existence for the crew Donald now found himself with. They would use the Airstream as their fallback plan, but it would still leave little privacy for the group.

  When he drove through the third gate, Donald’s memories hadn’t prepare him for what he would find. Instead of the tiny rustic log cabin of his youth, he discovered an industrial-sized behemoth of a building. Instead of three tiny rooms, this mammoth structure comprised three stories and was the length of an airliner. The house in Virginia looked like a starter home next to this place, and the compound measured over 5,000 square feet of living space.

  Beyond the monster building, another oversized structure with large roll-up doors could be seen. The doors were the size you would find at a loading dock or a large car dealership service area rather than a suburban garage. This building would swallow the pickup truck and Airstream and still have room left over for a football game and possibly the crowd who watched the game. As Donald scanned the grounds, he spied greenhouses full of color along with various other outbuildings. His engineering degree would help, but it would take weeks to figure out what each building contained and how all the systems worked. He should have read the notebook before their visit, but who could predict the end of the world?

  A bang on the roof of the truck jolted him back to the present as Tom shouted. “Donald, look alive! Three armed men at 11 o'clock!”

  He slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the truck into a defensive position behind the open door. The truck’s door wasn’t armored, but it was the only cover available to him. From the corner of his eye, Donald saw Tom had positioned himself on the opposite side of the truck. He stood behind the engine block of the truck for maximum cover. Tom’s urban operations training from the Marines took over.

  Three men stood sentry in front of the building. Two younger and one older. Each of younger men held M1 Carbides with the barrels of the weapons pointed down rather than at the truck. The old man stood armed with only a broad smile on his face.

  “Donald, we knew you would arrive today. It is so good to see you and your friends. My name is Vincent, and I was a friend of your father’s and the caretaker of this camp. We’ve been getting ready for your arrival. Welcome.”

  The man with the smile walked forward, not concerned about the weapons pointed at him. Donald nodded to Tom, but neither lowered the aim of his rifle.

  “Please, your drive must have exhausted you. You are safe here now. No enemies or monsters can breach the security of this compound. Come in and rest, eat, and then we can talk.”

  “Vincent, how could you have known we were coming today? I didn’t tell anyone outside of this group, and I don’t think anyone phoned ahead.”

  “My wife Kathryn has the sight Donald, and she foresaw your arrival. We can explain it all later. Come inside all of you and be our guests. The boys and I got a deer just this morning for the special occasion of your arrival.”

  Vincent led the group toward the imposing building. Stairs led up to a deck which wrapped around the second story of the building. Large double doors led into a cavernous common room. A large old woman labored in the kitchen area and the smells were incredible.

  She turned as they enter and walked toward Donald. “I am glad you made it here safely. There’s a magnificent meal for all of you to eat here. Then you’ll get some much-needed rest. Tomorrow Vincent and I will show you around the camp. Now come and eat!”

  So, they ate without speaking until they were all full. The stress, lack of sleep, and loss from the last few days, melted away with each mouthful.

  Donald had many questions and wanted to explore, but the old couple insisted it could all wait until the morning. Take a hot shower and get some rest, they told the group. After they had cleaned the kitchen, Vincent and Kathryn left for the evening.

  ###

  “Did they say hot showers?” Natasha asked. “I want one of those.”

  “I’ll join you, honey.” Doc said with a big smile on his face.

  “You will not!” Natasha stormed off toward one of the closed bedroom doors alone.

  Tom laughed. “Ouch! Guess you aren’t getting laid tonight.”

  “Shut up, jerk!” Doc replied and stormed off in the opposite direction of his wife.

  “Electricity and water! I wondered why it’s still on here, but wasn’t in Boston?” Gwen asked.

  “On the way in I noticed wind turbines and solar panels, so that explains the power. With all the fresh spring water here in Maine, everyone has a well, so that explains the water.” Tom said.

  “When things seem too good to be true, many times they are,” Donald said. “We’ll get cleaned up and then we’ll organize two watches. I’ll take the first patrol and Tom will take the second.”

  “There’s a lot to watch Don.”

  “Yea, I get it. Let’s concentrate on watching this main area. It’s big, but we’ll all be in here. I’ll take Gwen with me, and you can take Helen during your watch.”

  “When do I get sentry duty? You know I’m capable with a gun.” Betty asked.

  “Let’s work on getting through this night first and then we’ll discuss it.”

  ###

  “Your father had quite the place here. What did he do?”

  “My father was the DC area mob boss for the O’Connor crime family. My mother carried the O’Connor name and my father married into the family. They controlled all the crime in the Boston area and wanted to expand South, so they selected my father to head up their expansion. He feared the government or a competitor would come after him. I’m not surprised he built a fortress like this to hide out in.”

  “Is this what you expected to find here?”

  “Not even close. I remembered a small log cabin we used to visit in the mountains when I was a kid, but it was a tiny shack compared to this place. It looked like he built this place to survive the apocalypse.”

  “Sounds like you had some pleasant memories of your father, even if he wasn’t always a legitimate businessman.”

  He smiled as Donald remembered the quality time he spent with his father before he discovered Joey’s true nature. “My father thought ahead and had been paranoid, so there should be some interesting surprises for us to find here. I guess we’ll discover them together in the morning.”

  It surprised Donald how much he enjoyed Gwen’s company since they had only known each other a few days. He compared it to spending time with an old friend. They lived through a string of constant action along with the thought of certain death, and it helped bond people together. Besides their back and forth chatting, their patrol of the common area had been uneventful. At three, they woke Tom and Helen to take their spots.

  ###

  The next morning Donald woke to the smell of bacon being cooked, and coffee brewed. He felt rested even though he had slept on the sofa last night. Donald let Gwen have the bed in the suite they shared. She had already woken up, and the conversations radiated from the common room.

  They thrusted a heaping plate of eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast into his hands, as they escorted Donald to a place at the table. “Eat up Donald, there is a lot to do today!” It was the old man, Vincent. Donald hoped this place hid no evil secrets. It looked like an oasis and he wanted to forget about the apocalypse outside the walls.

  Donald ate his breakfast while he soaked in the serene atmosphere. Everyone in the room appeared relaxed this morning, with one exception. Doc sat by himself off in the corner with a scowl painted on his face. Natasha smiled and laughed with the others seated at the table. Donald guessed that selling out your wife for your own safety didn’t go over well, and Natasha had let him know. Her icy stare told you not to mess with her. There had to be more to her story.

  Once he finished his breakfast Donald said, “OK Vincent, show us around. Gwen and Tom come with us. Everyone else can hang out and relax for now.”

  He noticed Betty gave him a dirty look after his comment. She desired to grow into an adult and take part in all the actio
n. Betty displayed her shooting ability when she saved them in the thrift store, but he wanted her to be a kid a little while longer. Tomorrow she could become a warrior.

  “As you can see, this floor is the main living quarters. It has six bedrooms plus the master, along with seven bathrooms. The kitchen and the large common room make up the central area of the floor. Let’s go upstairs first.”

  “The top floor is the communication and observation center. It features 360 degrees of windows for direct views of the grounds. There are computer workstations to monitor the cameras surrounding the camp. An AI software package can discern threat levels, or you can observe each camera manually. A HAM radio set can communicate anywhere on the grounds and with others up to 2,500 miles away.”

  “Isn’t it dangerous having glass surrounding the room like this?” Gwen asked.

  “This glass can stop a 50 caliber bullet, and the fences are over 1,500 meters from the building. It would take a superhuman sniper to get close enough to even hit the building.”

  Donald looked around at the various equipment and noticed cameras displayed on the monitors from each ring of the camp walls. This would be a more comfortable and efficient way to perform their nighttime patrol. With this many vigilant electronic eyes, no human or zombie would ever sneak up on them.

  Like he could read Donald’s mind, Vincent continued, “Your father believed in triple redundancy, so each location has three separate cameras. The monitoring algorithm can detect movement and determine if it is an animal or an actual threat. Either way, it sends us an alert. It is one reason we are so good at hunting since we have an unfair advantage.”

  The vantage point and the high-tech equipment both impressed Donald. It would keep them all safe from any outside threat, living or dead. “What is powering all this equipment?”

  “Remember triple redundancy. There are 12 wind turbines spread out around the camp, three solar arrays, and a large stream that can provide hydroelectric power if needed. Let’s head downstairs to check out the first floor.”