Operation Z | Book 1 | Uprising

by Szepanski, G. D.

  This level had an industrial warehouse feel to it with shelves cabinets and various storage closets that filled the area. Donald could see food stores, medicine, health and beauty aids, and clothing filled several storage racks. There were doors labeled armory wedged between the shelves of supplies.

  “Down here you will find food staples, clothing, toiletries, and weapons. Your father’s vision was to have enough supplies on hand for ten people to live for a year without having to resupply. Hopefully, this whole nasty mess will straighten out long before a year has past.”

  “Don’t count on it.” Tom mumbled so only Donald heard him.

  “Let’s go outside and walk around the grounds.”

  The building with the roll-up doors was about half the size of a warehouse club store inside. It held three Jeeps, a half dozen ATVs, two pickup trucks, and an M113 Armored Personnel Carrier, along with Donald’s truck and the Airstream trailer. Maintenance supplies, fuel storage, and tools lined the walls of the structure.

  Their tour of the grounds continued with the six greenhouses. The arrangement for the greenhouses assured each received the maximum amount of sun exposure each day. Vegetable plants in various stages of maturity overflowed each building. A large outside garden contributed to the food supply during the brief Maine summer. Other small storage outbuildings dotted the remaining grounds. The furthermost building had been the caretaker’s residence. It sat isolated at the far corner of the property.

  “Although you own the camp, Donald, you and your friends must stay out of our residence. It is the one building strictly off limits to all of you. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, I’m sure you value your privacy,” Donald said.

  “I know you have seen a lot today and have many questions. I will answer them all in time, and we will show you how everything works. But not today. Take it easy and explore the camp yourselves while I take care of some things.”

  “Why don’t we help you?”

  “No, I said not today!” With these words Vincent stormed away from the group.

  ###

  “Odd. What do you think that strange outburst was about?” Tom said.

  “Maybe he isn’t used to having company yet? With no one up here except him and his family, it felt like the place was all his,” Donald said.

  “Maybe living up here all this time has driven him nuts? Didn’t you ever see the Shining? That seemed like a lot of anger from the old man.”

  “Boys, be nice! Vincent and his family have kept the camp up and running, and they have welcomed us with open arms and two enjoyable meals. Let him have his space and the benefit of the doubt. Besides, what kind of trouble could an old-timer like that cause?”

  CHAPTER 21 - LT. THOMAS JOHNSON

  AFTER THE STRANGE interaction with Vincent, Tom thought something wasn’t right here. He had no actual proof, just a bad feeling in his gut. As they walked back toward the building (this place is way too big to call a cabin), Tom said. “I’m going to grab one of those vehicles and do a recon to find out what the security is like for myself. We don’t want anyone or anything to surprise us. Things may not be as they seem.” Tom hoped Donald would choose to accompany because he didn’t trust Vincent and wanted the backup.

  Instead, Donald said, “Sounds like a plan. I’ll check out the security equipment up on the top floor. We’ll figure out how the security system works ourselves. Shouldn’t be too hard since I completed an engineering degree.”

  Tom had wondered how they kept this large fleet of vehicles gassed up, but then he found the answer in the garage. Electricity propelled both the Jeeps and ATVs. It made sense to depend on electric vehicles with the camp’s continuous electrical supply from three unique sources. The pickup trucks relied on gasoline power, and the armored personnel carrier ran on diesel fuel. Fossil fueled vehicles allowed a longer range of travel than the battery powered options. The M113 was a military surplus Vietnam era machine and was an impressive vehicle when viewed up close. It resembled a tank without a gun turret and provided seating for up to 11 passengers. Tom could picture mowing down plenty of zombies in the road while he drove this bad boy.

  Since he travelled by himself, Tom took one of the electric ATVs. Tom armed himself too, even though he expected no problems while he remained inside of the fence line. He needed to observe the security around the camp with his own eyes. Vincent’s explanation proved impressive, but something still didn’t sit right after their second meeting with him.

  Tom followed the road back toward the gate they had entered through the day before. He verified the gate to be as secure as he had remembered. The gate’s construction was about 12” thick of solid armor, and approximately 12 feet tall, with a numerical touchpad on this side too. Anyone who attempted to enter or exit the camp needed a code to operate the gate. Bad news for a quick escape, but good security since any intruder who climbed over would still need the code to open it. His inspection convinced him the entry gate would be secure.

  Tom rode off in a clockwise direction parallel to the wall. The wall itself stood 20 feet high and appeared to be solid and robust. Apple trees ringed the inside of the fence, so he rode slowly and as close to the wall as possible. Tom guessed even the armored personnel carrier wouldn’t be able to bust through this security wall. No weak links were apparent during his inspection, so far.

  Around the four o'clock position from the front gate, Tom found another smaller entry gate. This had a keypad for entry but wasn’t as imposing as the front entry gate. However, it could still hold off a major assault. Beyond this gate the four wind turbines stood that Vincent mentioned during the tour, so Tom guessed this doorway provided a convenient access point for maintaining and repairing them. It would be a lengthy trip around the outside from the entry gate for an incoming incursion force. This entrance wouldn’t be visible from the roadway, so the convenience of access to the wind turbines didn’t pose any significant security risk. Plus, this smaller entranceway wouldn’t have allowed a full-sized truck entry to the grounds.

  As he continued to ride further, Tom saw more apple, pear, and even some peach trees planted around the perimeter of the fence. There would be plenty of fresh fruit to harvest soon. They could can or freeze it to help them eat well through the winter months. The wall continued to look impassable from the outside perimeter.

  Once Tom reached the far side of the camp, he discovered an open manway through the fence. Someone attempted to camouflage the opening, and he might have missed it if he had passed by any faster. The door resembled a submarine door with a big rotary handle on the inside. Tom ventured through the open doorway to find what laid on the other side.

  The noise level from the electric motor on the ATV had been low, so his approach had been stealth. Tom had a sidearm and a knife, but not the equipment he would have liked to carry for a major battle excursion. His Marine training allowed him to move through the woods in a covert fashion. Tom’s cautious nature drove him to find the reason for the open doorway. Who would have used it to enter their camp?

  Near the camp’s entry road, the field beyond the wall had been wide open. Back here, the woods were overgrown and dense, so Tom couldn’t see over 10 or 15 feet in any direction. He knew nothing that roamed the woods, living or dead, could detect his presence either. A well-worn dirt path meandering through the forest and it would have been a peaceful walk on a normal summer day. The zombie apocalypse made each new day a unique challenge now rather than normal.

  After he traveled through the dense forest for about 15 minutes, Tom discovered a large clearing. Tom moved off the path to remain hidden within the tree line because voices sounded from up ahead. The clearing held a cage filled with a collection of eight to ten men, women and several children. All of them had been striped naked and showed signs of abuse. A large pit, about 8-foot-deep and 15-foot square, stood in the center of the clearing. Moans and groans from zombies emanated from the hole. A dirt covered backhoe sat parked off to the side. Tom couldn’t
be sure if the backhoe had dug the pit or awaited to fill in a mass grave.

  While Tom stood and observed the setting, Vincent spoke. “Friends, as I told you when I came here for our previous visit, if your champions can defeat the home team in battle, you can all go free! Who are your champions?”

  Two men in the cage stepped forward to volunteer. One man was tall and skinny while the other was equally tall but slightly overweight.

  “Boys, the champions. You know what to do.”

  Vincent’s boys stepped forward. One held a revolver and the other a cattle prod. Bang, bang the pistol sang, and both the champions collapsed to the floor of the cage with bullets through their heads. They ripped the door on the cage open, and Vincent’s boys grabbed three kids. They dragged them kicking and screaming to the side of the pit and threw them in. Moans and gnashing of teeth from the zombies mixed with the screams and whimpers of the children as zombies ripped them to pieces. The remaining captives screamed, and Vincent’s boys opened fire, killing a few more of the captives.

  Tom started in shock after seeing Vincent’s family murder children by zombies. He retreated in disgust from the grotesque scene that laid in front of him. Vincent, the caretaker, and his family imprisoned and massacred people, including children. As Tom backed up, he tripped on a dry branch which snapped as he fell. The crack sounded like a shotgun going off in the forest's silence.

  Vincent’s boys turned toward the tree line and shot wildly with their M1 Carbides. Even though neither of the gunmen displayed any discipline or training, he found himself both outnumbered and outgunned, so Tom did what he needed to do to survive. He sprung to his feet and ran for his life.

  Tom ran and heard the heavy footfalls that pursued him up the path. Adrenaline fueled his muscles as he sprinted toward the ATV. More shots rang out. But untrained civilians running through the woods wouldn’t hit anything unless they get lucky. They did, sort of. Tom felt a hot sting on his left ear, but he kept moving. A voice bellowed out behind him, “Let him go, boys. They have overstayed their welcome, and it is time to evict the entire lot of them.”

  The path sped by even though Tom had lost some of his soldier fitness since he retired. He should start running again, if he survived this chase. Tom raced through the manway, wheezing while sweat poured off him. He slammed the door shut while he turned the handle to secure it behind him. That should slow down Vincent and his murderous family.

  Wasting no time, he jumped on the ATV and raced straight for the cabin. Donald and the others needed to be prepared for the coming attack. Halfway back to the cabin, the battery on the ATV died, and Tom rolled to a stop. Shit! He jumped off the machine and ran. That’s when Tom heard the moans and smelled the stench of the dead coming from his left. There’s no time to wonder where the zombies came from. Fear gave him the strength to run on even harder than he had before.

  Tom made for the door of the cabin, and as he tore it open, he could see the crowd of the dead as they closed in on the cabin. There were over 50 of them. A regular horde of zombies.

  “Everyone grab your weapon. We are being overrun.”

  His body screamed for him to collapse in exhaustion, but Tom knew these people needed to know the threat that came for them. Tom was the only trained soldier here, but he hoped the others had some survival skills they could tap into. He remembered Donald saying he was going up to the observation level, so Tom ascended the stairs to find him. They needed a plan of action now, if they would survive this attack from the dead and these madmen.

  CHAPTER 22 - DONALD BISHOP

  PART OF DONALD would have liked to go with Tom on his ride to inspect the wall, but Donald felt his time would be better spent learning how the control room operated. Tom had been a Marine and could handle himself in dangerous situations. He would be their eyes along the wall to find any security issues. Plus, if he wanted to be truthful, Donald wanted to spend more time with Gwen.

  They entered the cabin through the storage area, rather than climbing up on the deck first. He wanted to check out the contents of the armory. They all needed to pack heat at all times since they didn’t live in a fairy tale world anymore.

  “We need to have these weapons upstairs with us, not locked up out of reach in the storage area.”

  “You think there is danger here, Donald? It seems so peaceful here.”

  “We need to be prepared for anything with all the death surrounding us. The world has changed, and it’s now a war zone. We need to be prepared to fight or run so we can continue to survive.”

  Gwen stood silently and bit her upper lip. After she took a deep breath, she said, “OK.”

  They hauled a bunch of hardware from the armory upstairs to the living area. They took long rifles up to the observation level and distributed short-range weapons to the rest of the group. Everyone received firearms and knives except for Matthew and Doc. Matthew got a knife, but Donald didn’t think a 10-year-old, who never fired a gun, should start now without being trained. Doc traded his pretty Russian bride for another, vodka. Donald would equip the kid with a weapon before a brooding, loud-mouthed drunk any day. Today wouldn’t be the day to equip either of them with any firearms. The time to train Matthew to defend himself would come sooner rather than later, but Doc would be on his own to choose whether he lived or died.

  Donald brought Gwen, Helen, Betty, and Matthew with him up to the observation level so they could figure out how to use the surveillance equipment. He figured the women were smart, and the kids knew more about computers than any of the adults. The old saying states: technology is anything invented after you were born.

  “This is the security and communication center. We need to figure out how all this equipment works.”

  “Excuse me,” Matthew said as he sat down at a terminal. Betty took the seat next to him. They both started pressing buttons, and things changed on the screens. After a few minutes, Donald heard audio through the speakers on top of the workstations.

  “What’s that sound?” Donald asked.

  “The cameras break the grounds surrounding the camp into separate zones. Each zone has both cameras and microphones. You can display any camera you choose on any of the screens or let the computer observe for you,” Betty said.

  “Let the computer observe for you?”

  “Yes, there is a threat detection algorithm running. It can determine when a viable threat exists and send an alarm to the users. It’s a pretty cool system!”

  “How did you learn so much about computers, Betty?” Gwen asked.

  “AV club in school.” She replied with a broad smile on her face.

  “The only problem I’ve been able to find is a section of the back wall. Everything is out so no audio or visual signals are coming through.”

  Donald thought about Vincent's words, “Your father believed in triple redundancy.” So, had this section been turned off on purpose? He should head out there and check on it himself because it appeared intentional to him.

  “Can you use the system to find out Tom’s current location?”

  Matt pointed to a screen. “He’s standing in front of that gate. It’s over by the wind turbines.”

  “Is he headed toward or away from the section of the wall that has the camera failure?”

  “He’s headed that way now.”

  “Can you put the working sections up on the monitors on both sides of the dead section?”

  They did, and Donald watched Tom drive off one monitor but not into the next section. He must have stopped within the blacked out area. The ATV Tom rode had been silent, so they couldn’t track him by engine noise. Only natural background sounds came through the speakers.

  “Wonder why we can’t hear the ATV’s engine running?”

  “It’s an electric version, so it wouldn’t make any noise,” Matt said.

  Donald smiled as the kids proved how smart and resilient they both were.

  “Seems like he is taking a long time getting to the next camera,” Gwen said.
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  “Wonder what he found there? Tom had always an observant person. Do you think we can see something from the windows facing his direction?”

  Donald took a pair of high-powered binoculars and a sniper rifle over to the windows that pointed toward the blind spot. The caretaker's cottage and some trees blocked the view of Tom’s location from the window. While he scanned the area, Donald saw the sun reflect off something in the general area where they thought Tom stopped. He switched to the scope on the sniper rifle and found the reflection was the sun’s reflection off the parked ATV. The trees prevented him from getting an unobstructed view of the wall, even with the high-powered scope. Donald continued to scan the area to find what made Tom stop to investigate for so long.

  Gwen walked across the room and said. “Can you see anything?”

  “Tom parked the ATV near the wall, but I can’t see him or what caused him to stop and look around.”

  “There’s nothing new on the camera feeds, but we discovered a map of the camp. That location has an access door, so maybe he stopped to check it out?”

  “How big is the door?”

  “From the prints, it appears to be a normal-sized door. It’s like one found on the front of any house.”

  What was so interesting about a door? Unless someone had left it open? Who would have left a door open?

  “Guys, come here! We’re getting something on one of the other mics.”

  Donald and Gwen rushed back to the monitors to see what Betty referred to.

  “What is it?”

  “We are hearing a distant popping sound coming from the microphone closest to the door.”

  “Can you play it back?”

  “Probably, but we haven’t figured out how to yet. Just listen.”

  At first, there is nothing to hear. Then the noise Donald dreaded came through the speakers. “Those are gunshots!”