Escape from the Damned (APEX Predator Book 2) (2 page)

“She’ll be fine,” replied Mike.  “She’s still pretty tore up about the lieutenant’s death.  She won’t say it, but I think she feels like she should have known the priest was going to reanimate.”

“No way she could have known that,” replied the NCO.

“Try telling her that.  I think she’s feeling the pressure of being the only person who knows her job.”

“Tell me about it.  After you get some breakfast, send her up here.  I think it’s time her and I have a pep talk.”

Mike turned for the sky light.  “I’ll strongly suggest she come up here for some fresh air,” he said with a wink.

SSgt Brown continued strolling around the top of the building.  He couldn’t help think about how beautiful the sunrise really was.  It would be a nice day to take a nice stroll along the lake.  He thought about the last time his family went on vacation.  The lake they went to was absolutely serene.  He thought about his wife and kids.  There was that churning in his stomach again.  He hadn’t been able to contact any of his family since he left for Shreveport.  Now, it’s been over two weeks.  As far as he can tell, the entire country is suffering from this outbreak, and he’s here protecting a bunch of strangers while his wife and kids fend for themselves.

He almost envied Jackson.  The kid came up here with one person in this world that meant something to him.  His family had been killed by a drunk driver while he was in AIT at Ft Knox.  His only tie to anyone else had been Pvt Anderson.  He’s taken Anderson’s death hard.  But, after a few days, he was able to shake it off and has been a model soldier.

He forced the thoughts of family out of his head and again tried to get back to the business of saving the folks he had with him.  Food is running low, maybe two days worth.  Water was short.  They could use the taps, but he and Jen were concerned about contamination.  They still didn’t have a good handle on how this thing was transmitted.

Ammo was good.  They’d blown through a fair amount rescuing the regular army guys and the science club, but hadn’t had to use any since.  Gas was the same as before, maybe 300 miles worth of driving.

Everyone had clothes.  The teachers had been complaining for more blankets for the kids.  The kids had been complaining about blankets for the dogs to sleep on.  The dogs had not been complaining about anything.  He was sure their tails had wagged non-stop for a week now.

His thoughts drifted back to the night of Lieutenant Cruzan’s death.  The dogs, what were they doing?  Sgt Procell said they were in the corner pissing themselves.  Let’s see, that was right before the priest died.  All except the big one, Duke.  The kids named him Duke.  He was barking up a storm.  He wondered out loud if the dogs could sense something.

“I bet they can,” answered a female voice from behind him.  He turned to see Jen.  She really did look tired.  “I hear that dog barking in my nightmares,” she told him.  “Every time I dream about that night, I hear barking.  It makes it that much worse.”  She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.  God Damn It!

SSgt Brown set two MRE boxes up about three feet apart.  “Sit down Jen.  You’re looking pretty ragged these days.”

“I’m fine,” she shot back.

“No,” he replied curtly.  “You’re not.  Even those kids in there can see it.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Well, for all our sakes, I hope you’re right.”  He could see the anger and despair in her eyes.  He struck just the nerve he’d hoped too.  “You know, I know how you’re feeling.”

She looked at him with a mixture of doubt and anger.  “Really,” she barked.  “You think you know how I feel?  So tell me!  Can the great Staff Sergeant Brown, please tell poor little ole me how I’m feeling?”

“You’re scared,” he replied in a soft voice.

She just stared at him for a minute, her mind racing to answer him.  “How do you know that,” she finally asked quietly.

“Because I am too,” he answered.  “I’m scared I’m going to do something that is going to get someone killed.”  He stood up, and looked at his feet.  “I’m scared I’m going to do something that’s going to get everyone killed.”  She watched him pace for a moment.

“I don’t want the responsibility.  I just want to take care of my soldiers, and let someone else make the big decisions. I didn’t think much of Lieutenant Cruzan, but at least with him around it wasn’t my call.  Now, I have to be the leader again.  Me, I’m the guy who lost 26 troops in about 2 minutes.  I’m the guy who let one of his own troops kill and eat the only people he’d managed to rescue.  I don’t exactly have the best track record for keeping people alive in this new environment.”

He sat back down on his MRE box, face in his hands.

“Are you kidding?” she asked.  “You’re the best thing that could have happened to this group.  You’ve been the rock we’ve all come to lean on.  We didn’t do it because you out ranked us.  We did it because you’re the most competent leader we’ve got.  Mike called Lieutenant Cruzan a chicken-shit.  He was going to get us killed.  Do you know why?”

She waited a second for a response that didn’t come.  “He didn’t care about us.  We were excess baggage.  We were a bunch of civilians who were going to slow him and his troops down.  You never looked at us like that.  You always treated us like equals.”  She leaned back, suddenly feeling better.  He was smiling at her.

“You know,” he began, “you are a valuable member of this team.  They need the both of us.  They need me to keep them safe.  They need you to treat them when I fail.  I need you to be my backup.”

He reached out and grasped her hand, and looked into her eyes.  She could see the intensity in his eyes.  “I know it’s a big responsibility.   But, if I lead these folks, will you doctor them up to the best of your ability?  Don’t worry about the past.  Let’s both start with a clean slate.  New season starts today.  The pre-season is over.”

It was as if a giant weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.  Nothing had changed.  He was still the leader of the group, but he had relieved her of the responsibility for those she hadn’t saved.  She gave his hand a squeeze, tears flowing down her cheeks.

“I do.”

They both broke into uncontrollable laughter.  He let her hand go and stood up.

“On that note, I’m going for some breakfast.  You wanna stay up here and get some more fresh air.”  He pointed east.  The horizon was lit in a beautiful orange and blue.

“Go eat honey,” she chuckled.  “Send my real husband up here for a little romantic sunrise.”

He climbed down the stairs and was met by Duke.  The big German shepherd gave his a hand a sniff.  A few tail wags and a lick to his hand later, and SSgt Brown was allowed to pass.  It seemed to SSgt Brown that Duke had taken it upon himself to become the protector of the group.

“So what do you think?” he asked the massive dog.  “Is it time to move out, or do we stick around a bit longer?”  The dog cocked his head to the side, ears perked for just a moment.  Then he turned and walked away.

“Thanks for the advice,” he chuckled.

In the reception area, he found the rest of the group eating breakfast.  Mike gave him a questioning look and shrugged his shoulders.  SSgt Brown gave a small nod and a smile.  Mike accepted that and continued eating.

After breakfast, SSgt Brown called a meeting of those he was coming to think of as his senior leaders:  Mike, Jen, Sgt Procell, and Mrs. Arrington.  He sat behind the vet’s desk looking at his people.

“Ok guys,” he began.  “We have some decisions to make.  First is food and water.  We’re getting low on both.  So, we either send out a foraging party or two, or we pack up and leave.  I have my thoughts, but I want to hear yours.”

Mrs. Arrington was the first to speak.  “Well, if we leave, I’d like to find more transportation.  Let’s keep in mind we’re here because one of the kids fell out of the back of that truck.  We need to find more transportation like a bus or van or something.  I say we stay until that’s cleared up.”

Mike spoke next.  “If we can locate a few stores close, we could forage from them as needed and stay as long as we need to.  The building is secure and we hardly ever see any zombies running around here.  I don’t see a reason to leave at all.”

Sgt Procell, a native of North Carolina spoke up.  “We can’t stay here forever.  This place is short on zombies, but it’s also a damned desert.  If we find few stores around here, we’re gonna clear them out in a relatively short time.  There’s no source of fresh water close.  It’s still warm outside with long days.  In a few weeks that’s going to change.  If we’re gonna travel, we need to do it now, not later when we’re desperate.”

“There are only 18 of us,” Mike shot back.  “We can make a run and fill up that military truck.  One load of that should keep us going for weeks.  We make five or six runs and we’d be good for the winter.”

Jen finally spoke up. “What then Mike?”

“What do you mean what then?”  He paused.  “You mean after the winter?  We’re fine here.  Why does everyone want to abandon this place?  This is the safest we’ve been all month.  It’s safer than our house.  It’s safer than Willie’s house was.  It’s a hell of a lot safer than running between stores with glass fronts and sitting on top of overpasses.  I mean WE STAY HERE AND WAIT FOR THE FUCKING CAVALRY!”

“You know we can’t stay here forever, honey.  As far as we know, right now, there isn’t a cavalry.  From the looks of things, we’re on our own.”

SSgt Brown stood for effect.  “I agree.  Sorry Mike, but if we stay here, we’ll starve by next summer.  We have to move.  I also agree with Mrs. Arrington.  We can’t travel far with what we have.  We need more wheels.”

He sat back down and pulled a piece of paper from the vet’s printer, and began writing.

“Ok, so we need vehicles.  At least 2 more if they’re large; bus, van, even a panel van would be ok.  We need more gas, food and water.”

He looked to Mrs. Arrington.  “I was thinking about arming the kids.”

“Are you serious?” she shot back angrily.  “Absolutely not, I will not have a half dozen preteens walking around with guns.  Let’s remember this is a science club, not the local 4H.”

“I wasn’t talking about guns,” he replied calmly.  “I was thinking more like hammers and sharpened broom handles or something.  Like a spear levy.  I don’t want them out hunting zombies in their spare time, but I do want them to be able to defend themselves if the shit hits the fan.”

She nodded.  “I guess I can agree to that.  I think something like spears would work.  Easy to use, has some range.  I guess.”

“How about pitchforks?” Sgt Procell interjected.  “Seems like they’d be long, tough and three points would be better than one I would think.”

“Ok,” SSgt Brown announced.  “We send out foraging parties today.  Sgt. Procell you take your engineers, Mike, Kerry, and the LMTV.  You’re looking for class one, two, and three, as well as more transport.  Jackson will take Mrs. Arrington, Theresa, and the Humvee.  You guys are also looking for food, tools and gas.  If you find a suitable vehicle, grab it.  If not, just what the Hummer will carry.

“Sgt Procell, head north along this road,” he pointed at a map on the table.  “Don’t push out any farther than this town here.  Mrs. Arrington, you folks go south along this road, no farther than here.  Get what you can, then come back here.”  They got up to leave.

“Oh,” SSgt Brown added.  “I don’t need to say it, but grab any class five you can get.”  He looked at Mike and Jen.  “That’s ammo to you guys.  Don’t pass up on ammo if you find it.”

Mrs. Arrington walked to the citadel; collected Pvt Jackson and Theresa.

“We’re going to head south to Quitman.  We’ll use this road to skirt around Ruston.  We’re after gas, food, water, and anything that might be used as a weapon.  So, auto parts stores, grocery, and hardware stores.  Sgt Procell’s guys are going north in the big truck.”

Joe Torres watched from the tree line about 3 football fields away as the two vehicles drove off in separate directions.  He started to get up when Allen placed a hand on his shoulder.  He pointed at the roof of the vet clinic.  There on the roof was a tall soldier walking the roof again.  Joe wondered if this was the same one he saw on the roof when the sun came up.

Joe and Allen had been watching this building for a couple of days now.  The two took turns sleeping and watching.  That’s the way Thor had wanted it.

Joe had found people here about five days ago.  He and Allen had almost given themselves away when Allen noticed the military vehicles parked in front of the clinic’s only door.  It was only then that they noticed the guard pacing the roof.  At that time they didn’t know who the interlopers were or how many of them there were.

Joe had reported his finding to Thor.  From that point on, Joe and Allen had been reassigned from foraging duty to spy duty.  Over the past few days, they had been able to count four different soldiers walking the roof and two other civilians.  Thor sent The Rabbit out three times a day to bring Allen and Joe food and get their report.

Joe thought he had a handle on their numbers.  But, this morning changed that.  He counted four soldiers and four civilians leaving in the military vehicles.  The guy on the roof makes nine.  Is he alone? Are there others inside?

Suddenly, he felt more than heard movement behind him.  He turned just as Allen thrust his spear into the zombie’s face.  The creature immediately went limp, pulling Allen’s spear from his hand as it fell.  The bigger man shoved a booted foot onto the zombie’s chest and yanked the five foot piece of sharpened wood free.  The sound of the wood pulling free reverberated in Joe’s ears.  He turned to see if the guy on the roof heard it.  Nope, he was still just walking the same slow pace.