Camp Zero (Book 2): State of Shock (15 page)

I
rode
with Hank while Kiera stayed back with Luke and Corey who was still being treated. The group of roughly one hundred people moved swiftly through the forest and across the fields heading for Stockdale. I bounced around on the back of the horse, clutching at Hank’s police uniform. There were a couple of officers that had made it out, and some that were ex-military but most were ordinary folk desperate to save their loved ones. If Mount Pleasant had taught me anything, it was that people would go to great lengths to save family.

Upon arrival in Stockdale, Hank began directing people into position. I watched as they climbed up fire escapes to take position at the corner of roofs, others used some of the industrial dumpsters and used them like barricades in the alleys. A group of five galloped away to plant explosives that they had collected from the truck.

It was a mad whirlwind of activity.

“How can I help?”

Hank was giving instructions to another when he turned back. “Take up a spot, make sure you have enough ammo and be ready. That’s all you can do.”

He hopped onto his horse and rode off to join the others. I was going to take up a position inside a storefront that had once held clothes but there was already another man and woman in there. They had drawn the shutter down halfway and used mannequins like sandbags to block off the entrance.

“Get out of the way,” the guy yelled.

“Hey! Up here,” a younger guy who was in his early twenties and wearing a plaid red shirt motioned for me to join him. “Go around the side to get up.”

With a minute or two I had joined him on the roof. There were three others, each of them had taken a spot along the edge. From there I could see that the first four store buildings either side of the street had men and women on the top. Below in the alleyways others had taken up position, some more were off in the forest tree line. I cast a glance back to the rest of the town where others had moved into different areas.

“Here, take a look.”

The young man handed me a pair of binoculars and I looked through them. In the distance I could see Hank and the others digging holes along the road in various spots. One of them began walking backwards with what looked like a wheel of wire while the others covered it with dirt.

“Those are M18 Claymore mines and several other land mines. The shit is really going to hit the fan when those bastards roll through this town.”

I handed the binoculars back to him and he went back to looking.

“So what’s your name?”

“Ally Murphy.”

“Your pops in the town?”

“Yeah.”

He turned around and extended his hand. “Owen Black.”

I shook it but focused on what Hank was up to. Once they had the mines planted they rode the horses around them and headed off in the direction of Hayden.

“What the hell is he going to do?”

“Start a fight.”’

I took a seat beside him. He had deep blue eyes, and a rugged look as though he had worked on a farm all his life.

“So I hear you are the girl that held up my old man.”

I glanced back down at him.

“Stuffed him and his buddies in a barn.”

“Oh that. Yeah, they had taken what we had hunted.”

“That sounds like him. He’s never been one for working for a living, have you, Pops?”

I didn’t realize his father was on the roof. He glared at him but went back to checking the ammo in his rifle. Not everyone had assault rifles. The roof I was on was one building back from the bottleneck that Hank had referred to. Those with assault rifles were going to lay down heat from above in the initial strike, according to Owen. The next group would take out those that made it through; any that attempted to flee into the forest would be taken down by others in the tree line.

“Once they are in this bottle, there is no way out. If they try to flee back to Hayden, the explosives should take them out. We have been waiting for this day since we escaped.”

Owen looked out across the town. “If it wasn’t for these people, we might have been dead by now.”

“They are not all from Hayden?”

“No, some of them are from Stockdale. At least those that came with us. Others stayed behind and died, or were carted away to Hayden.”

Owen pressed his back to the lip of the building and rolled his head around on his shoulders to work out the kinks.

“Man, when this is over I can’t wait to have a hot bath and a hamburger. You know the kind, where they double it up. And a huge bag of Doritos, washed down with a six-pack of beer. What about you?”

I gave him a half smile. I hadn’t really given much thought to what I was missing out on. Up until a month ago we had pretty much all we needed inside the bunker. Dan had it well stocked not only with the bare essentials but with snacks and candy, everything that he said a person might crave after being stuck in an old tin can for a month or two. At the end of every week he would bring out a large box and everyone would select one.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” I replied.

“So?”

“Well, maybe some blueberry pie.”

“Is that your kryptonite?”

I frowned.

“Your weakness?”

I was just about to reply when we heard gunfire in the distance. Owen’s father shouted for us to get ready and keep down. I glanced over the tops of the roofs and watched everyone get out of sight. Squashed down against the roof, Owen looked over at me.

“You with that guy?”

“Shut up, Owen,” his father said.

It was an odd question to ask when we were about to go toe-to-toe with a group of militants. I didn’t answer him. The death stare I was getting from his father was enough.

“You know. Sam,” he continued.

Owen ignored his father’s repeated requests for him to shut up. Then came the sound of hooves galloping fast towards us. They were getting close. My eyes were fixed on Owen’s father. He slowly edged his way up to the lip and looked, then got back down again. He raised one finger as if to indicate one minute or wait. The ground vibrated like a drum and gunfire erupted in the distance. Owen’s father took another look.

“Now!”

There was no hesitation in his command. He yelled while at the same time moving up into a sniper’s position. I scrambled up and brought the Winchester rifle over the edge and my eyes widened as I saw Hank and the others moving at a fair clip into the bottleneck of the town. They curved around into the first road on the left. Behind them were at least twenty men on horses. Gunfire erupted. Its deafening noise overwhelmed my senses as rounds hit each of the soldiers. They never stood a chance. Several of the horses got caught in the crossfire and went down. They hit the dirt and dust flew up into the air. The gunfire continued for another few minutes as a few tried to turn and bolt for the forest but they were quickly cut down by guys with assault rifles positioned at the edge of the forest.

Everyone began cheering except me; at least it felt that way. My eyes drifted over the dead. A flood of memories rushed back in of my mother being shot and skinhead brutality.

No matter what my father had said about the need to kill, it didn’t make killing easy to swallow. Owen and his father hugged each other like two hunters gloating over killing a pack of wolves.

Hank and the others came out. He called to people to make sure that everyone was okay. Our eyes locked and I nodded. The group moved fast to hide the bodies. Others would come, if they were already on the way, Hank would repeat whatever he had done to draw them out. While it seemed as though it had worked, luck was something that eventually could run out.

Men dragged some bodies into the stores, others into the woods. The three horses that had died in the firefight couldn’t be moved. They were too heavy. I could tell this was going to be a problem. While the others had ridden into the bottleneck of the town, the next group would see horses, the blood on the ground and wouldn’t repeat the same mistake.

It took them less than five minutes to get the street to resemble the way it had been before the mass killing. Hank was saying something about the dead horses. He must have figured it was going to affect the outcome of the next wave of attacks.

“Well done, everyone,” he yelled as he headed off once again in the direction of Hayden. This time they took a few more men with them. A plume of dust spiraled up behind them as they disappeared out of view. Everyone got back into position and waited.
We’re coming, Father. Not long now.

I
was
in the middle of being escorted to see the Commander by Valeska when the gunfire erupted. Initially it was just a few bursts. Some of the men raced towards the east checkpoint. As strange as it might have seemed, not everyone was unnerved by it. It was like it was an everyday occurrence.

“Probably those tree monkeys,” Valeska said. He had returned an hour after I had got cleaned up and had a bite to eat. I had opted to use the river rather than wade in the filth they passed off as a warm bath.

“Tree monkeys?”

“That’s what some of the soldiers call them. The forest is full of them; it’s the reason why we haven’t gone in so far. If they were all in one area it might be easier to come up on them but they are spread out in the forest.”

We darted across the street and passed by a number of town folk who looked scared. They kept their heads down and shuffled with purpose in whatever direction they were heading.

“Yeah, a group of us a couple of months back went in after them. It was at night. It was meant to be all covert and shit. We figured we’d be able to catch them off guard while they slept.” He shook his head. “We didn’t know what hit us. They were everywhere. In the trees, inside of makeshift holes in the ground covered by leaves. Rounds of bullets were hitting us from every direction. There were forty of us, only six escaped. The others bit the bullet.” He stopped and showed me his leg and shoulder. “I took two bullets, a friend of mine lost his eye. I swear if we get the chance to draw them out in the open, I am going to be there to rain down fire on those assholes.”

I nodded. “Have you ever thought that maybe they are just trying to protect themselves?”

He shot me a glance as though I was siding with them.

“Don’t let the Commander catch you speaking like that. He frowns upon anyone showing them empathy. They had their opportunity to lay down their weapons, they refused and so they will reap the consequences.”

When we arrived at the manor the Commander was staying in, I had to shake my head. It was typical. Unlike Hank who slept inside a makeshift tent like the rest, the Commander had to take the biggest house in Hayden. It was a power trip. A need to convey his position over others. Everything these people did was done in order to maintain an image that they were in control. It was the reason why the president resided in the White House. Did he really need a building like that? No. It was just to impress and send out a message that government was to be seen and treated as more than anyone else.

As I was guided into a room with four soldiers, my eyes immediately fell upon Murphy. He was seated on the edge of a sofa. He glanced at me and I looked away. I didn’t want the Commander to think that we knew each other.

“Sir. You requested to see him.”

“Well done, Valeska, you can go now. And soldier, find out what’s going on over at the east gate.”

“Will do, sir.”

Before he walked out he gave me this look as though he wanted to drive home the seriousness of everything he had told me. When the doors closed, the Commander took a seat behind his table as though he was commander in chief.

“What’s your name?”

“Frost, sir.”

“Frost? Strange name.”

“That’s my surname, sir.”

I stood at attention.

“At ease.”

I clasped my hands behind my back. The Commander spun slightly on his chair towards the window. He seemed more interested in whatever was going on outside than me. Without looking at me he asked a question about how I’d managed to circumvent the resistance while the other three trucks hadn’t.

“Out of sight, out of mind, sir.”

That must have intrigued him as he spun back in my direction.

“And by that you mean?”

“I fell back behind the convoy. By the time I arrived no one was there except the one truck that was burned up.”

He leaned forward placing his elbows on the edge of the thick mahogany table.

“You see, here’s the thing that I find a little confusing. There was meant to be three trucks, not four. What city did you come from?”

I swallowed hard. This was it. The gig was up. I hadn’t thought about being asked where I came from. We had assumed they would just be glad to see a truck with more supplies. But this man had obviously encountered his fair share of people trying to pawn themselves off as his men. Now I knew what towns were in the area. It was a guess on my end when I said Worland.

He snorted, then his brow knit together. He rose from his seat and came around. Out the corner of my eye I could see Murphy edge forward on his seat. My heart started to drum hard against my chest wall.

“Odd. The other three came from Kirby. You want to explain why you showed up here?”

I should have known it the moment I was told he wanted to see me. Before I could say another word, the soldier he’d asked to check the east checkpoint came rushing back into the room.

“We are under attack, sir. The resistance has killed twenty of our men.”

His eyes widened and his nostrils flared. His gaze momentarily shifted from me to the soldier. He shouted a few commands to the four men in the room and then marched out with the soldier. I was about to leave when he told them to keep hold of me. One of them grabbed me by the arm as the doors behind the Commander closed.

T
he sound
of distant gunfire was beginning to make the four-armed soldiers uneasy. That only intensified when Murphy rose up from his seat and began to pace the room.

“Sit down.”

He threw his bound hands up in the hair. “I’m just wanting to see what’s going on.”

“I said sit down.”

He shoved Murphy back. Two of them had their AK45s on him. I turned around to head towards the door and one of them grabbed me. “That also means you.”

“I’m going to help.”

“You are to remain here.”

“Listen, I know you are just following orders,” I cupped a hand to my ear. “But hear that? There is a war going on out there.”

“I said, sit down.” One grabbed hold of me and practically tossed me in the direction of Murphy.

“Hey!” Murphy said coming to my defense. The soldier raised his weapon. “You want to go?”

I waved Murphy off but didn’t say his name. I took a seat on the edge of the leather couch. One of the soldiers stood by the window looking outside, while another remained fixated on Murphy and the other two stood either side of the double doors. Our eyes darted back and forth. The tension in the room was palpable. Whatever was going on outside wasn’t some small event. Hank hadn’t told me he was going to attack. This went completely against what we had discussed. Five minutes passed and I was certain the Commander was going to return, continue his interrogation and toss me in with the others.

Instead there was a knock at the door. The soldier who kept his eyes on us told them to enter but there was no reply. Another knock and he motioned with his head to have one of the guys at the door take a look. They opened up and stepped out. The door closed and time seemed to freeze. There was no gunfire and the soldier didn’t return. Again there was another knock.

“Daniels?” one of them shouted out. I figured that was the guy that had stepped out. When he didn’t reply, the next guy went out. Now the soldier by the window had turned his attention to the door. He was looking skittish and unsure of what was happening. Both of them did. When a gun went off and the door swung open, the second soldier’s lifeless body fell to the floor. The one by the window sprinted over to the door and sliced the corner to take a look at who had just shot his comrade. As he reached down to check his pulse, there was another crack, and his body collapsed on top of the other.

What ensued next happened in an instant. The soldier with his firearm looked panicked and twisted around. That was all Murphy needed, he sprang up and lunged his body into him like an NFL player. The gun went off in a short burst as they landed hard on the ground. As they fought for control, Billy raced into the room sweeping his gun with a wild look on his face.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said to the officer fighting with Murphy. A moment later, Murphy bitch slapped the guy with his own gun and he groaned. Murphy then got up and forced his zip tied wrists against his own body so the plastic snapped. Next, he rolled the unconscious man over and zip tied him using his own equipment.

I grabbed the AR from one of the dead soldiers. Murphy went to the window to check on what was happening outside.

“Any others with you?”

“No,” Billy replied.

“Okay, you want to fill me in on what’s going on?”

“How long you got?” Billy replied just before there was a sudden burst of gunfire out in the corridor. The doors were drilled with bullets and splinters of wood shot in every direction as we took cover. I scrambled over to the back of the door and kicked it shut, but it didn’t close all the way as one of the dead guy’s legs was blocking it. I reached down and pulled a grenade off his jacket and didn’t think twice. I swiped the safety, then twisted and pulled the pin. A quick toss around the door and I heard it roll. Someone outside yelled and then there was a giant explosion that shook the ground. Murphy took the point while we followed him out. We moved fast and with purpose. Murphy fired off several rounds as we hugged the sides of the walls and headed for the nearest exit point.

When we made it to a side door, outside it was pure pandemonium. Soldiers were running towards the east side, on a horse or heading into the armory.

“It’s Hank,” Billy said taking cover behind a section of wall.

“You want to expand on that?”

“He said he was going to draw them away. Give us a chance to get you out.”

“What?” I stammered.

Billy was about to reply but he fired a round and took out a soldier who had spotted us crouched down.

“We need to get Shaw and get the others out,” Billy yelled.

Murphy shook his head. “There’s no way we are going to be able to save everyone.”

“Maybe we don’t need to. But we can give people a way to fight back.”

Murphy told us to stick close to him. As we moved out, it was clear that the Commander was not ready for this. Whatever Hank was doing, it was working. Several older vehicles that were unaffected by the EMP rolled out, followed by soldiers on horses. The west side still had men who had probably been told to hold their ground in the event that the resistance attacked from multiple angles.

“Sam, get in to the armory, see how many weapons are left. We are going to need to arm people. Billy, you come with me.”

I dashed out into the heat of the day and passed numerous soldiers that were streaming out of the auditorium. Some of them were barely dressed. One was tugging on his boots and looked as if he was going to piss himself with fright. Another came out with a gun in one hand, a boot in the other. All of them were being used like puppets in a war that should have never been started.

I shot into the building that housed the armory. A few men raced by me not saying a word. But it was who was in the armory that made me come to an abrupt halt. It was the Commander and Valeska. The moment the Commander’s eyes caught sight of me, I knew that this was a bad idea.

“Stop him!”