A Glimpse of Decay (Book 3): Lost in Twilight (15 page)

Offended and upset that Hartman would try to play on his emotions by using his family, Karnes fought the urge to punch the man in his mouth.  “General, I don’t mean to sound insubordinate, but if I remember hearing right, didn’t the Air Force try to provide close air support in Detroit?”  If Hartman was going to be shitty and try to use his family’s situation as some sort of hollow rally call, Karnes was going to try to make him look stupid in front of the others.  “They ended up doing more bad than good, right?”

“Well, that was in Detroit,” Hartman growled.  He was offended and Karnes’s insolence and he felt that the sergeant was intentionally trying to prove a point at his expense.  “We’re here in San Antonio—not in Detroit.  We’ll provide them precise coordinates and make sure that we don’t have any accidents.”

Wanting to be part of the ongoing discussion and feeling that he needed to state his opinion, the lieutenant standing next to Youngblood cleared his throat as he tried to steady himself for the possibility of pissing off the general.  “Sir,” he said timidly, “we’re not sure that we have any working satellites that can be used to guide the ordinance.  We don’t have laser designators here, so we can’t paint a target.  We don’t even know if Dyess has any smart munitions left.  They may have expended them all when they were trying to save the safety zone in Chicago…and the one in Detroit.”

“Well then, if all they’ve got are dumb bombs, we’ll just have to call them in the old fashioned way.  My young Lieutenant Riggins, airstrikes were conducted successfully for years before G.P.S. and satellites.”

“I am sure that our young lieutenant is aware of that,” Youngblood countered, “even if he is from the digital age and doesn’t know about protractors and grease pencils, but what we’re saying is that we can’t afford one ill-placed bomb—not one.  If by some chance we have damage to the wall, there is nothing to keep those things from coming in.  We wouldn’t have enough ammunition in the mini-guns to keep them from overrunning us, and we don’t have enough replacement barrels for when the guns start to overheat.”

“Captain Youngblood,” Hartman said agitated, “don’t you think that I am aware of our tactical limitations?  I know what we are capable of doing, and I know what we can’t do.  And the one thing that we can’t do is to allow this place to be lost.  Humanity is counting on us making it.  We have a duty to defend this post, even if that means that we have to sacrifice our lives in doing so.”

Karnes couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  Hartman was seeing this as some sort of military conflict.  This was by no means a battle, and trying to approach the situation from that angle was simply insane.  In Karnes’s mind, the general was having a delusion of grandeur and had somehow anointed himself with being the savior of all mankind.  For Karnes, this wasn’t about some set-piece military engagement or some noble crusade.  This was about trying to keep his men and himself from being killed.  “General, this isn’t a battle,” Karnes said gruffly.

Insulted at the sergeant’s statement, Hartman turned to him and said, “Now you look here Sergeant Karnes, this is a battle!  This is the biggest and most important battle that you’ll ever be a part of.  This is a battle for humankind, and it just so happens that it has fallen in my lap.  I’m going to do my best to win this battle, and we are not going to lose this fucking hospital, even if we have to live on the top floors with those things right below us.  Process this and file it away—we will not abandon this position.  Even if they breach, we will not run.  I’m sorry that there are no more officers left to lead the defense and it sucks that this is on your shoulders, but I’m sure that you’re capable of getting the job done.  Don’t prove me wrong, son.  Do I make myself clear?”

Knowing that it was pointless to debate the general, Karnes simply stood at attention and said, “Yes sir.”

Feeling that he had proven his point to everyone in the room, Hartman turned to Youngblood.  “Captain Youngblood, I want you to organize a security detachment to go with the doctors if the need arises for them to be flown out of here.”

Ah, so you aren’t so sure of yourself, you fucking narcissist
, Karnes thought to himself.

“Yes sir, but where will we send them if they do have to leave?” the captain asked.

“Corpus.  The naval facilities down there.  I am sure that they still have vessels utilizing the station.  The Navy is the only branch that seems to still be half-way operating.”

“But we haven’t had communication with them for the past two days now,” Youngblood countered.

“Damn it, just do what I say!” Hartman yelled.  “You’re not here to question me, you’re all here to carry out my orders!  Now make sure the damn pilots are on stand-by!”

Youngblood was startled at Hartman’s outburst and he instinctively stepped back.  Normally, Hartman was reserved and mild-mannered, always trying to protect his image in the presence of others, but Youngblood guessed that the pressure of the moment was getting the best of the stressed general.

“I’m sorry, sir—didn’t mean to sound like I was questioning you.  I’ll make sure the doctors are ready just in case.”  Youngblood walked back over to the map and placed his hands on his hips as he looked down at it. “Okay Karnes, get back down on the perimeter.  Keep us updated on numbers and locations.  No shooting unless it is completely necessary.”

“Yes sir,” Karnes said with disdain.  He spun on the balls of his feet and made his way out, heading to the stairwell that would carry him back down to the ground floor. 
Fucking asshole
, Karnes thought to himself. 
You’re gonna get us all killed here
.

***

Irene was dreaming of her parents—crying in her sleep—when a loud knocking on her door woke her up.  Startled, she quickly sat up in her bed and drew the bed sheet up around her neck.  After taking a shower, she had fallen asleep without putting on any clothes and she didn’t want some stranger seeing her naked.

“Doctor Hopkins,” a gruff voice called from the door.

“Yes?”

“Doctor Hopkins, we need you to get up and gather your things.  We have a situation developing and everyone is being moved over to the main hospital.”

Irene looked over at the clock on the small nightstand and saw that she had been asleep for almost two hours.  She fought to clear the grogginess and it dawned on her that something must have happened because she and Jim should have been briefing Hartman already.  “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Just please gather your things.  We need to go as soon as possible.”

“Can you just tell me what’s going on?’ she pleaded.  “Is everything alright?”

She slid off of the bed and grabbed her panties from a small dresser.  “Are we in some sort of danger?”  Instead of getting an answer, she heard the loud thud of boots walking away from the door and down the hallway.  “Hello?”

As she finished dressing herself, she heard a second set of footsteps, this time lighter and faster, approaching her room.  A rapping on the door was followed by Jim’s voice.  “Irene, are you in there?”

She rushed to the door and unlocked it, allowing Jim to step inside.  “What’s going on?” she asked.  The worried look on her partner’s face frightened her.  She also noticed that he wasn’t wearing his scrubs—he was in his battle fatigues and he was wearing a sidearm.

“It looks like they have some sort of buildup by the main entrance off of Binz-Engleman,” he explained.

“Buildup?”

“Yeah, buildup.  They think it’s not safe here in the quarters anymore.”

“What do you mean by ‘buildup?’ ” she asked in a quivering voice.  She could feel her legs weakening and for a split second, she could hear the screams of her lost friend Michael echoing inside of her head.

“A build up—a gathering—of those things.  They’re just on the other side of the wall…right behind us.  Hurry, get your stuff.  And don’t forget your tablet.  We can’t afford to leave any of our research findings behind.”

Irene grabbed a small carry bag and began to pack it with her clothing and toiletries.  As she did so, she asked, “Do they think we’re in real danger?”  She knew what the answer to her question would be, but she was trying to reassure herself that there was no reason to worry.

“I’m sure that if there was no danger, they wouldn’t be moving us.”  Jim walked up behind her and placed both of his hands on her shoulders.  He gently turned her towards him and said, “I’m sure this is just a precaution.  They just want to be on the safe side in case—well, just in case.”  He was doing his best to reassure her that they were safe and he didn’t want to scare her unnecessarily.  He knew that she had already escaped death in Kazakhstan and Maryland, and he didn’t know how much more she could take emotionally.

“When is this ever going to end?” Irene asked as tears filled her eyes.

Looking directly at her, Jim said, “I don’t know.  I really don’t know.”  He then reached behind his back and he retrieved a small handgun from his uniform pants.  “Here, I want you to have this.  Do you know how to use one?”

“Yeah, I know,” she reluctantly said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.  “My dad took me shooting when I was younger.”

“Well, hang onto this, just in case things get bad around here.  Okay?”

Irene took the weapon in her trembling hand and then relieved the moment when Roberts—gushing blood from all of the bites on his body—blew his brains out to avoid reanimating.  She knew that if she was posed with the same dilemma, she would do the same.  She shoved the gun into her bag and the two walked out of the room and into the hallway.

As they walked out into the parking lot of the building that had once served as the living quarters for the family members of wounded soldiers returning from the war against terrorism, Irene was overcome by the stench of the horde that was lurking on the other side of the wall.  The rising sun and the morning heat were bringing out the disgusting odor of the reanimated.  She could hear their moans and shrieks and she rushed to jump into the awaiting Humvee.

As they made the short drive over to the hospital, she asked Jim, “What do they plan on doing if they get into the base?”

“I don’t know.  No one has told me anything else.  I think Farris and his group are already at the hospital.  Maybe they’ll know something.”

As the Humvee pulled up to the main entrance of the hospital, they saw that a make-shift barricade had been erected in front of the vestibule.  Office desks, file cabinets and sheets of aluminum had been thrown together to provide some sort of barrier in the event the worst-case scenario played out.

As Irene and Jim walked into the mall area, they could hear the shouts and hurried boot steps of the troopers as they attempted to seal off the other entrances into the building.  A middle-aged female soldier, rifle slung across her back, saw the two and called over to them.

“Captain, you need to make your way to the lounge on the fifth floor,” she said.  “It’s just around the corner from the command center.  Major Farris, Captain Cosgrove and Doctor Wang are up there with the rest of their group.  You’ll have to take the stairs.  The only elevators working are the service ones, and they’re being used for equipment and nothing else.”

“Okay, thanks,” Jim said.

As the two made their way up the stairs, Irene calmly said, “I’m not going to turn into one of those things—not if I can help it.”

Jim stopped in mid-stride and looked over at her.  “Same here.”  He knew exactly what she was talking about.

“And if I can’t do it, if for some reason something has happened and I can’t…end it, I want you to do it.”

“Don’t worry, if it comes to that, I’ll do us both,” Jim proclaimed.  “Let’s just hope that it doesn’t come to that.”

“Damn, I just had de-ja-vu,” Irene said.  “Or maybe I saw this same discussion in a movie or something.  Oh well, who knows.”

“Yeah, I don’t think they’ll be making any more movies anytime soon.  If ever.”

“I never really had time for movies anyway,” she said.  “Heck, I never really had time for a relationship where I could go on a movie date.”

“Well, if we make it out of here, I’ll take you to any movie you want to see.  Deal?”

“Deal,” Irene agreed.

“Oh, just make sure it isn’t an apocalyptic movie, okay?” he kidded.  “We’re living through the real thing—no need to see a movie about it.”

***

“Make sure we have everything packed,” Morrow said to Davenport.  “As much fuel as we can carry, and as much food as we can lug.  If this place folds, we’re bugging out.”  Morrow and Davenport were standing at the rear of Morrow’s track.  The lieutenant ran his hand over the small beard he was wearing.  None of the men had been able to shave for a week now.  Water was at a premium and shaving and bathing had become a luxury of the past.

“I’m with you on that,” Davenport said.  “We’re all with you on that.”

“There’s a small road just north of us—it runs along a creek and parallel to the freeway—if we have to, we’ll shoot our way through the wall on the northwest side of the perimeter, jump the train tracks and make our way to that little road.  I think it’s called Holbrook or something.”

“I like your way of thinking,” Cooper said as he walked up to the two men.  He was carrying a box of rations that he was going to load onto one of the vehicles and he had overheard their conversation.