Soldier On: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse (28 page)

“To be honest, I had a hard time believing what I was seeing when you entered our assigned sector. Denver is hot with the infected and we haven’t seen anyone arriving from the north in a couple of days. The good thing is that the dead aren’t here in large numbers
yet
.”

“Well I still owe you one staff sergeant.”

“Now...the weapons please.”

Daymon relinquished his machete- rather reluctantly.

Cade dropped the mag and cleared his M4 before handing it to the SSGT.

Duncan racked all of the shells from his shotgun and handed it over butt first.

“I left the Glock in the truck,” Vincent said clearly without stammering or stuttering.

“
Follow me
,” said one of the men in the rubber suit, his voice came through the speaker sounding thin and unnatural. The four survivors complied. Each were led to a separate exam area and ordered to disrobe.

Vincent received a thorough once over, the doctors, or whoever they were, appeared to be looking for obvious bite wounds. He also had to stand in front of a thermal body scanner; he had no idea what for. After the battery of tests he was pointed in the direction of the showers.

Duncan got the same treatment and retired to the showers after a few extra debriefing questions.

Daymon didn’t go so easy he had a hard time with the authority being heaped upon him. The soldiers handcuffed him and let the doctors check him out under their watchful eyes.

Cade received the most scrutiny. The gash on his nose was cleaned and sutured while the attendee grilled him about the injury. The man in the suit also asked him about the scarred over gunshot wounds on his shoulder and neck.

“Hunting accident,” Cade replied.

“So you hunt two legged prey?”

“No comment.
Are we finished here
?” Cade was growing tired of the inquisition and found it hard to follow the advice he gave the others.

“For now, but my superior is going to want to talk to you about the conditions outside.”

Cade locked eyes with the doctor, “I need to know if there are any survivors from Fort Bragg on this base. My wife Brooklyn and my eleven year old daughter Raven may have been refugees from there.
Do you know anything
?”

“I’m sorry to hear about your situation. I know that a few helicopters arrived here from back East a few days after the outbreak. I wasn’t on base yet when they arrived so I can’t be certain exactly where they came from. The base is getting more crowded day by day. Our guys are coming back from deployment in waves; I suggest that you find Major Freda Nash, if anyone knows who, what or where...it’s her.”

Cade knew the major but didn’t let on. “Thanks. It’s the little bit of hope that I needed. Where can I get some chow?”
There’s no way
, Cade thought,
that I’ll be able to sleep.

***

Cade took a very long hot shower totally oblivious to the other three survivors.

Daymon stared at Cade’s tattoo, the word “INFIDEL” arced from one shoulder blade to the other, rendered in black Old English lettering. It reminded Daymon of the “THUG LIFE” tat that
Tupac Shakur
had on his stomach and took with him to the grave. “Looks like my man likes his bacon,” Daymon paused for comedic effect but not one person laughed at his joke. Not wanting to lose the center stage he tried another one liner. “Or his wife caught him doing someone he wasn’t sposed to be doin.”
Crickets
, Daymon was nonplussed, “I’m getting some sleep. It’s been real fellas.” The track commander directed Daymon to the round the clock cafeteria and also where he could find a place to sleep.

The Bradley commander singled out Vincent. “Private get dressed and come with us. Someone will give you the standard orientation in the morning. The enlisted sleeping quarters are down by the flight line, we’ll take you over there. Should be plenty quiet going forward, most of the C-130s and C-5s have already landed. Springs is only about fifty-percent cleared and that means we’ve got plenty of doors to kick and lots of Zs to deal with.”

Vincent looked at Duncan and Daymon, snapped them a quick salute and followed his newfound superiors.

Duncan put on a clean pair of ACUs, said “Adios” to Cade and Daymon and set off in search of a rack with clean sheets. The man was bone tired from all the running.
Hell
, he thought,
even a hot rack with week old bedbug infested sheets would do
.

Only Cade and Daymon remained. Cade spoke first, “You might want to stick around. I have a feeling someone with your skill is going to be in demand around here.”

“I think I have to sleep on that. I do have a strong feeling that my mom is dead...it’s a gut feeling and I always trust my gut.” Daymon put up a closed fist, waiting for a bump.

Cade reciprocated, “In that respect, you and I are alike, and my gut tells me I’ll be seeing more of you.”

“So far this parting of the ways has a kinder, gentler feel to it...unlike our,
gun in my face
, first meeting.”

“I’m sorry...it was necessary considering the circumstances.”

With a-
think nothing of it
-flick of his wrist Daymon walked out of the exam cubicle.

Cade had come so far and overcame so many obstacles to find his family. The feeling resonating in his bones tried to tell him that everything would be all right. The ex-Delta Force operator was left sitting half naked and alone, while his hopes and doubts battled for supremacy in his head.

Outbreak Day 7

Schriever AFB

Colorado Springs, Colorado

She had been running nonstop for what seemed like an eternity. Every time she reached a seemingly safe refuge, a pack of the fast moving zombies would cut her off.

A crumpled galvanized steel garbage can lay between her and a darkened alleyway. Brook vaulted the obstacle with ease and set her sights on a low-hanging fire escape.

The undead had tapped into a new wellspring of energy and were now sprinting after her, moving more fluidly than before and faster than she had ever seen. The ghouls snarled and moaned, clicking their teeth-anticipating her meat.

Brook leapt for the bottom rung and snared it with both hands. The ladder was supposed to slide down but it didn’t budge.

“
Get away from me
,” Brook screamed. With all of her might she pulled herself up the ladder one rung at a time. She felt a tug as one of the creatures caught ahold of her boot. Their combined weight pulled the ladder down and dropped her into the crowd of hungry zombies.

Brook awoke thinking that she was dead but quickly realized someone was banging on the screen door.

“Auntie Brook...Auntie Brook. Get up, our brother is coming.”

Her next waking thought was one of gratitude-she was thankful that she was alive and more importantly the superfast and agile zombies weren’t real.

“Ok...I’m getting dressed. Come in for a moment girls.”

Raven stirred on the top bunk bed. “Mom what’s wrong?”

“Get up sweetie. Aunt Annie is going to have her baby.”

Raven stretched and yawned and then greeted the twins.

Sierra and Serena calmed down and waited on the bottom bunk for Brook to get dressed.

“Is your mom in any pain?” Brook didn’t expect accurate information from the young twins.

Sierra answered, “Not really...but she says she’s really hungry.”

“She
is
eating for two...Why don’t you three go and get some food and then hurry right back.”

“Ewww, the food is awful here,” Raven stated.

“The foods not for you...it’s for Annie.”

The twins retreated further into the bottom bunk to escape Raven’s dangling legs.

Brook bolted from the room on her way to the infirmary.

“What wrong?” Dmitri asked in broken English. The orphaned boy had adopted Brook and Raven. He was still half asleep on the top bunk adjacent to Raven’s.

“Everything is ok Dmitri. It’s real early. Go back to sleep,” Raven said.

The three girls were off on their mission to get Annie something to eat. Before the screen door slammed shut Dmitri had already resumed snoring.

Outbreak Day 7

Over Kansas

Ari decreased throttle, a slight clunk sounded indicating the aircrafts separation. The refueling boom, sticking out of the Pave Hawks nose, retracted to a more aerodynamic position. The KC-135 pilot pushed the throttles to gain altitude while he initiated a hard bank to starboard. The first two pit stops were done in the dark and had required the tanker to fly ahead and loiter in a racetrack pattern, waiting for the slower Pave Hawk to rendezvous. The KC-135 out of MacDill AFB in Tampa, Florida and the black helicopter had already performed the delicate dance three times during the thousand mile flight. It was obvious to Ari that the tanker pilot and crew wanted to return home and he couldn’t blame them.

Ari Silver had been pushing the Pave Hawk hard on their return flight. The earth flashed by underneath the HH-60G at one-hundred and seventy knots, Kansas was but a gold and brown blur basking in the glow of the rising sun.

“Three down, none to go,” Ari updated anyone that cared to listen. It had been a long grueling stretch of flying, Ari was fatigued, but at least the hardest part, aerial refueling, was over. He shifted in his seat, his butt happy that the finish line was getting closer.

General Desantos adjusted his boom microphone before responding, “Where are we right now?”

“Sir, were passing over Garden City, Kansas.”

Ever since Ari had relayed the message from the SATCOM that Annie Desantos had gone into labor, Mike Desantos started acting fidgety and impatient; a far cry from his normal stoic and reserved demeanor. “That should put us close to the Colorado border...right?”

“Sir, yes Sir. You are going to be meeting your son before twelve hundred hours.”

A huge grin sprouted on the Delta Force commander’s craggy face. Even though it smelled like road kill inside of the helicopter and the undead Chinese national was still kicking and squirming in the bag at his feet, today was the best day of Mike’s life.

Outbreak Day 7

Schriever AFB

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Cade picked at his powdered scrambled eggs. No matter how much Tabasco he put on base chow it always tasted the same. He should be grateful, he thought, it was the first hot food that he had eaten in days, and the first meal he had the pleasure of attempting to consume without having to be hyper vigilant of his surroundings. He chose a seat in the far corner of the building where he could watch the comings and goings. The only other people occupying the cafeteria appeared to be an aircrew, the three men and a woman attired in blue flight suits talked animatedly amongst themselves.

Cade looked at his Suunto, it was 0330 and soon more soldiers would be filing in for morning chow; he was sure of that.

A man approached with a plate of the same runny eggs and a cup full of something hot, tendrils of steam wafting up. The older man sat down gingerly, thrust his meaty hand across the table and introduced himself, “Hi, name’s Dan.”

“Cade...good to meet you,” he said pumping Dan’s hand.

“What brings you here at zero-three-thirty?” Dan queried, while he stirred the soupy eggs with his fork.

“Just got in from the outside,” Cade finished the last of his meal and changed the subject. He pointed with his chin. “Is that coffee?”

“Big urn of it over that way,” the bearded man pointed at the end of the steam tables with his fork and started talking, “I had one of the worst nightmares of my adult life...” Cade asked Dan to wait one; he had already extricated one of his legs from under the table and was intent on getting some coffee.

Cade returned with the steaming mug and sat down ready to listen; guessing that he had at least three hours to kill before the civilians would be out and about, he decided he’d let this gentleman waste a couple for him.

“As I was saying, I’ve had claustrophobic nightmares- I was a tunnel rat in Nam and I don’t want to go there. I have had people shooting at me in my nightmares...always lived.” Dan took a long pull of his coffee, dried his mustache and then resumed. “This one...was too real. It was a zombie nightmare. Slow movers...hungry as hell. Well, when they finally got me I was taken to their leader the biggest zombie of the bunch...red hair flowing everywhere...”

This got Cade’s attention, he leaned in.

“...the bastard hooked me up to his motorcycle and dragged me down the main street of the town where I grew up. In my nightmare, I noticed a sign on that main drive, “Welcome to Stanley, Idaho Population 100” the sign still stands there today...let me remind you. I escaped from there twenty-four hours ago.” Dan intentionally left out the incidental details,
sleeping with thoughts of suicide fresh in his mind and being caught off guard by the U.S. Army
, it was a little bit embarrassing. “I’ve got a black hole in my heart...I had to say goodbye to some good friends two days ago. I’ve lost friends to old age, illness, war, accidents...when you get to my age that’s gonna happen. My friends were murdered...
that’s personal.
”