Home Base

by C M Hoffmann

  “See that house up there, where they all seem to be heading?”

  “The one with the woman out front with the big gun?”

  “That’s Cane’s house, and Cane’s wife, Scarlett. Things are about to get interesting. If I bail out of this truck, it means I’m going to help him. He may need it. Just remember where we are, get yourself out of here and come back when the shooting stops.”

  Justin, “Can I help, Mr. Wyatt?”

  Wyatt, “Not this time buddy. Mr. Cane probably won’t even need my help.”

  Cane draws his Baby Eagle, sets it in his lap, and takes a deep breath, “I’m coming baby.” Cane looks to the twenty to thirty figures in his yard, some already lying still on the ground. A sense of pride fills his chest as he realizes his wife has just taken on an army single-handedly. Cane catches a glimpse of movement on the other end of the road. At least two dozen more steves are making their way to the sounds of gunshots. He sees three figures moving differently amongst the steves

  Cane, “Fitz... Rapp... Fred...?” The three men are moving like a plague through the crowd of the infected. Steves are falling all around them.

  Scarlett spots the familiar truck and yells, “CANE!”

  Cane returns to the task at hand and blows the horn on his truck, long and loud, catching the attention of the nearest steves. He hits the accelerator and puts it on the floor. His tires squeal from exertion and the truck lurches forward when the tires catch. The truck thunders through the crowd of steves, pushing bodies left and right, and a few unlucky ones directly under the tires. The truck sprays grass and mud and gore everywhere. He makes two circles in his front lawn before the truck stops from loss of momentum.

  Cane tries to exit the truck but the swarming bodies have surrounded the truck. He struggles to push the driver door open to escape the truck. He shifts his position putting both feet in the center of the door and with a yell forces it open. He leans to the side to clear his legs and empties a full magazine into the bodies reaching for him. He allows the door to compress his legs slightly and pushes again with everything he has and empties a second magazine. He gains enough clearance to flee the truck. He bails and makes his way to the front door firing at any steve nearby: missing most of his shots.

  He makes it to the front door, wraps Scarlett in a hug, and opens the door in one motion. They stumble into the house and fall when Scarlett kicks the door closed as they pass the threshold. He smiles devilishly, “Hey, boo, you good?”

  Scarlett rolls her eyes, “Better now that you’re here. Took you long enough. Now get off.”

  “Why does everyone keep saying that? I had some trash on the lawn to clean up.” A thud sounds against the door and three dogs coming running up to Cane. “Glad you’re ok, and look the mutts are still breathing too.”

  “Yea, they’ve kept me sane the last few hours. About forty five minutes ago those things started beating on the door though.”

  “Fitz, Fred, and Rapp are out there. So are Wyatt, and some newcomers. Gotta finish up, darlin’.”

  “Need some help?”

  “Thought you’d never ask. Are the guns loaded? I could use the AR about now.”

  “They’re all in the man room. And they’re all loaded.”

  Cane runs to the back of the house, retrieves his AR-15 and two spare magazines. He checks the chamber on the AR, bumps the forward assist, and stashes the extra mags in his back pocket. As he returns to the front door, Scarlett is stuffing fresh shells into the Remington 870 twelve gauge shotgun.

  Cane, “If that’s not the sexiest thing in the world.”

  Scarlett smiles, “Shut up and get the door, we got work to do.”

  Cane puffs out his chest, “Yes ma’am.” He swings the door open and backs up, Scarlett lets fly a salvo of double-ought buckshot at the first figure. Cane takes a knee and begins to steadily fire into the incoming steves. They make easy targets as they filter in through the fatal funnel of the front door.

  Seven steves lie motionless on their doorstep, in the brief pause Scarlett and Cane reload their weapons. More shots are heard outside and the pair moves to the front door. A steve rounds the corner from their porch and Cane executes a snap kick to its sternum sending the steve flat on its back and Scarlett puts a round through its brain at almost point blank range.

  Cane and Scarlett survey their front yard and they face a choice:

  Wyatt’s truck is under attack from five steves. Wyatt is standing in the bed of the truck trying to conserve ammo by repeatedly knocking the steves back instead of shooting. Mallory and Justin have retreated to the roof of the cab to be out of reach.

  Fitz, Fred, and Rapp are locked in hand to hand combat with a strange assortment of weapons. Fitz is using two department issued expandable batons one in each hand, Rapp is armed with his wife’s gift of a real katana sword, and Fred is using his daughter’s ‘Zombie’ lime green machete. All of them have firearms on their hips.

  More steves are closing in on both groups.

  Cane, “Let’s get to the truck and finish off the closest ones, then we’ll hop in and save the squad.”

  Scarlett motions with the muzzle of the shotgun and a nod, “After you.” They take off at a run towards the truck.

  Cane, “Wyatt! Start shooting we’ve got more ammo inside, we need to get down the street.” The three make short work of the five steves attacking the truck. “Alright everyone in. Scarlett in the bed of the truck with me. Big, get us down the street quick as you can, that’s my squad mates up the street.”

  As everyone arranges and the truck takes off, Wyatt plows over the top of an incoming steve.

  Cane, “GUYS! Get in!”

  Rapp removes his sword from a steve’s neck, Fred finishes his soaring head kick sending a steve to the ground, and Fitz flicks his baton into one last steve in their way, and they all pile in the bed of the truck.

  Cane, “Wyatt, back to my house.”

  Wyatt, “Word.” He throws his truck in reverse down the length of the street, quickly backs into the driveway and everyone files in passed the mass of bodies in the yard.

  Cane tries to make a mental note keeping track of how many infected have been put down. “Wow, I can’t even count how many steves we’ve taken out.”

  Fitz, “I’ve got thirteen so far today.”

  Rapp, “Fifteen for me. Did you say ‘steves’?”

  Fred, “Me and the troops got twenty.”

  Cane starts to remove the corpses blocking his front door, “Yes, ‘steves,’ we had twenty two just getting home. By the way, everyone, this is Mallory and her son Justin.”

  Everyone makes their introductions to Mallory who is astounded by the assortment of weapons among the men. Justin is in heaven playing with the dogs, completely oblivious to the rest of the world. Everyone takes a moment to enjoy his young laughter.

  Cane wraps Scarlett up in front of him, “So what’s the situation at home guys? And how in the world did you know to come save my ass?”

  Rapp, “You know we’re always ready to save your ass, it’s like a sixth sense for us.”

  Fitz, “It helps that Scarlett called us, told us you were headed back, and the issues out front.”

  Cane, “Always ready, huh, guys?”

  Fitz, “You know it. Rapp and Tina and their dogs have unofficially relocated to my house at the moment. Tina’s staying with Raquel at the house while we came here.”

  Fred, “And you know the troops have my house on lockdown. We’re set up pretty tight.”

  Cane, “Always nice to know the cavalry is nearby when we need ‘em.”

  Rapp, “Too bad we don’t have any horses.”

  Fitz, “Or more swords, Mr. Ninja.”

  Rapp smiles, “Don’t be jealous.”

  Cane, “So, Rapp, why the move?”

  “Neighborhood went down pretty quick, buncha neighbors were getting sick from the Virus, figured we’d opt out and head back to the city to see what support we still had going. Fitz was av
ailable and had the room. Took a few trips to get everything down here. Never did make the last one. House went down in flames with the rest of the neighborhood. Some messed up kids started firebombing things for fun.”

  “No kidding, well it’s still nice to know you’re closer.”

  Fred, “Well if we’re not needed anymore, mind covering me while I get back to the troop transport?”

  “Oh yea, we’ve got a wonderful way to get you home.” Cane runs back to the man room and returns with his other AR-15, .308, and .22 rifles. An ammo can in the other hand. “Anybody up for some rooftop shooting? Gentlemen, choose your weapons.”

  A chorus of “YEA!” rings out across the house. In the end, it’s decided Wyatt, Scarlett, Mallory and Justin will stay inside to prevent a breach; while Cane, Rapp, and Fitz head to the back yard.

  Cane bows, “Rapp, age before beauty.”

  Rapp, “You just need me to show you how to get up there don’t you?”

  “No, old man river, just need to be able to catch you if you break a hip.”

  Rapp kicks at Cane and proceeds to make his way up to the roof by a mixture of jumps and pulling himself upright, while Cane and Fitz look on. He makes it to the top and stands triumphantly. Cane begins to toss the guns to Rapp. After the guns are all up on the roof, Cane carefully hands up the ammo.

  Cane , “Got it? Good. Be right back.” He disappears around the side of the house and comes back grinning ear to ear. Fitz drops to his knee in a fit of laughter.

  Rapp, “What’s so funny?” Cane comes into view with a ladder. Rapp says, “Oh you dick!”

  Cane still grinning responds, “I knew you didn’t need it with all your experience over the years.”

  “Well since you wanna be a little girl about it and get a ladder, do I need to protect Fred on my own too?”

  “Shut your hole, we’re coming.”

  Cane and Fitz make their way up the ladder and pick their weapons. Cane takes the .308, Rapp takes the AR-15, and Fitz chooses the .22.

  Cane, “Alright let’s get the ladder in position to go rooftop to rooftop and we can make our way down the street as Fred does.”

  The guys position the ladder from roof to roof and Fitz goes across.

  Fitz, “I’ll stay one ahead of y’all since I have the twenty-two.”

  Cane, “Alright, y’all good? I’m gonna give Fred a shout and let him know we’re ready.”

  Rapp and Fitz respond with a simultaneous, “Ten-four.”

  Cane, “Fred, Ready to move?”

  Fred opens the front door, “Ready as ever.” He begins to walk quickly down the street to the far end of the block where his family suburban awaits. Cane, Rapp, and Fitz lie prone on the roof tops and begin to call out targets.

  Rapp, “I got the one in the green polo.” A shot rings out and the steve drops as its skull erupts in a pink mist.

  Cane, “Blue tee is mine.” The shot fires and the steve’s neck is severed as the projectile goes low. With the spinal cord severed, the steve falls to the ground. The group can still see its jaw working, snapping at the open air.

  Rapp, “Oh looks like we got three coming up center stage.”

  Fitz, “I got left, Rapp center, Cane to the right.” The optics on all three rifles lineup and the guns fire. The lightweight .22 projectile is thrown off course by a hard wind. “Well shit, at least I clipped his ear.”

  Cane laughs, “It’s ok, looks like Fred is on cleanup.” Fred stabs the lime green machete through the steve’s nasal cavity and it drops.

  The group begins to leapfrog to the rooftops down the street. Four more steves are killed in the process. Fred waves behind him as he reaches the ‘Troop mobile’. He puts it in reverse, mows down a steve and flashes a mischievous smile to the guys on the roof. With a wave he speeds away and the guys begin to make their way back to the house without much commotion but plenty of horseplay.

  HOME FREE

  Back at the house, the group assembles in the living. They start a simple clean of their weapons mostly for dirt and blood. They reload magazines and adjust their disheveled clothing.

  Cane, “Well that was more fun than I anticipated. Steve seems to be slowing down a bit.”

  Fitz, “And steve would be who now?”

  “Ah, I forgot to tell you. In lieu of the famous ‘zombie,’ I’ve elected to call them ‘steves’.”

  Rapp, “Why am I not surprised you named them?”

  “At least I didn’t name them individually. So do you guys have anything new to add?”

  Fitz, “Well, so far, there seems to be an agility difference between fresh and old steves.”

  Rapp, “Yea, at about a week they started to slow down.”

  Cane, “How would you know when steve’s birthday is?”

  Wyatt, “Ha! Birthday. More like ‘re-birthday’.”

  Rapp, “Guess it’s a guess.”

  Fitz, “Honestly, it’s kinda like a progression. At first they just want to feed and infect. Then they start to slow down a bit. Like instead of hunting food for they just sit around and wait for it to show up.”

  Cane, “Any idea what happens after they start to slow down?”

  Rapp, “Far as we’ve seen they just slow down and their bodies deteriorate faster.”

  “Y’all planning on going to work?”

  Fitz, “Is there really a work to go to?”

  Mallory, “On the way in we saw a bunch of cops standing guard and burning bodies.”

  Cane, “My dad called the chief. He said when we secure our home lives to report in if we could.”

  Fitz, “Yea but how the hell are we supposed to secure home?”

  Scarlett, “How about the same way we do hurricanes? Board up the windows inside and out to prevent breakage and breach.”

  Cane, “Sounds like a plan. You guys mind sticking around to help secure the home-front?”

  Rapp, “I’m down.”

  Fitz, “I’ll head home and start on my house, should be easier since I haven’t taken them all down from this passed hurricane season.”

  Cane, “Guess I should make sure Trey got home in one piece.”

  Rapp, “Wyatt, mind giving me a hand in the shed?”

  Cane calls Trey, “T, how’s home looking?”

  Trey, “Had a few steves hanging around, nothing I couldn’t handle.”

  “And my goddaughter?”

  “Wants to know if you have cookies.”

  Cane laughs, “Of course I do. Look we decided we can try the hurricane method of securing the houses for the time being. Until something else needs to be done.”

  “Mom and Pops had the same idea. They’re patched up over there and I’m almost done here.”

  “Good to know, hopefully we can get into work soon and see what the big plan is.”

  “Roger that, little brother.”

  Cane hangs up and moves towards Scarlett who is still reloading guns. “How you holding up?”

  Scarlett, “Just another day in paradise, my love. Oddly I’m doing better than I thought being that we just shot quite a few people at our front door.”

  “You did a hell of a job. It’s a new messed up world now. Mind taking a break and getting Mallory and Justin situated in the spare room.”

  “Yes sir, I can do that. Come on, Justin, time to see your new room”

  Justin jumps up and grabs Scarlett’s hand, “Yay! Can the puppies come too!”

  Mallory, “Let’s get settled in first and then you can play more.”

  Cane, “Wyatt, get yourself some sheets from my closet. The couch is your new home.”

  Wyatt, “Well, you know I love your couch.”

  “Like you have a choice. Speaking of which, you didn’t happen to bring anymore toys with you did you?”

  “Got the Glock as always, my bird shotgun, the forty-four, and the new AR. When they said there were random violent attacks, I decided to go heavy after I talked to you. I managed to make it back to my house and then headed to your pare
nts’ to check on the dog one last time and then just decided to wait since you were coming back.”

  “Good man. Get settled up and post on the roof with the three-oh-eight. Keep your eyes peeled for large groups, leave the singles alone.”

  Cane calls Pops, “Hey, Pops, how’s it looking?”

  Pops, “Fine for the time being, you?”

  “Had a little trouble but the cavalry showed up. What do you want to do about work?”

  “If you can get everything secure, then take whoever you got and we’ll meet you out front the Exxon in the morning. Probably be best to park right on the street.”

  “Sounds good, I’ll call you when we’re ready.” Cane proceeds out to his backyard to find Rapp maneuvering plywood out of the shed. “Need a hand there, gramps?”

  Rapp, “I swear you call me old again and I’ll personal feed you to steve.”

  Cane laughs, “Alright, alright, grandpa ninja, no need to be hostile.” They begin moving the wood from the shed piece by piece. Once all of the wood is out they begin placing it in its specified locations around the house. Wyatt gradually makes it up the ladder to provide over watch on the roof.

  Cane, “How’s the weather up there, Big?”

  Wyatt, “Cold and windy. Clouds look like a storm is coming.”

  “Rapp, we’ll need to find a way to keep it dry up there, so we can keep a consistent watch.”

  Rapp, “Yea, we’ll get to it later. Focus on the ground floor problem now. I don’t think steve likes to climb.”

  “Only if there’s not a ladder nearby. One tried to get in the stand where Trey and I were hunting.”

  “No shit? I wanna hear that story later.”

  “It’s definitely a weird one. We’ll all get together soon and tell stories. I’m sure y’all all have a few of your own.”

  Rapp takes on a serious demeanor, “Yea, it’s been rough at home. The wife is barely adjusting. Too much violence, too quick, but she’ll come around.”

  “I’m sure, brotha, let’s get to work.”

  Rapp and Cane begin screwing in the boards around the house and Justin comes waddling into the backyard, “Mr. Cane, can I help?”

  “Sure you can. Hold this box of screws for Uncle Ninja while I hold the boards up.”