Outbreak: Brave New World (23 page)

Amy smiled at her brother. “It’s alright, man.” she wiped her mouth
and glanced at the animal’s tail wagging back and forth on the other side of the table. “Lacey explained everything. You guys did the right thing.” She raised an eyebrow at the dog’s waving appendage “Besides, he doesn’t seem all that bad as dogs go.”

Rodriguez smiled a little and petted Freddie under the table. “Yeah, Freddie’s a pretty good dog.”
She rubbed the back of the dog’s neck, making the animal grunt and pant excitedly. “Who’s a good dog? You are! Yes you are!” the woman told Freddie in a babyish voice as she rubbed Freddie behind the ears. The dog’s tail thumped against the back of her chair.

Amy smiled despite the anxiety rolling around in her stomach.
She still felt skittish around the dog but she could not deny the change around the place. It was the happiest she had seen her friends in a long time…so she was just going to have to get used to the fleabag for the good of the outfit. And…well…if she could get used to getting mortared every day (if you could actually get used to something like that) for six months strait and could adjust to the idea of the dead rising up to eat the living she could adapt to sixty five pounds of fur and slobber. She grumbled to herself and pushed the pasta around her plate with her fork.

“Has anybody heard anything else on the radio?” Frays asked. She refilled her glass with some of the Gatorade from the pitcher then forced herself to eat a little more of her food.
It was good, but the tomato sauce seemed to be making her stomach go a little sour. Were there any antacids in the medicine cabinet? If not she would have to check in Eamon’s bag.

They had all started listening to the radio during their watch shifts or whenever there was time. The woman frowned a little at the awkward glances the others gave each other. “Does static count?” Carl asked doubtfully. He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped a little of the red sauce off of
the tip of Becca’s nose. The two of them exchanged silly little smiles.

“No static doesn’t count, dipshit.” Frannie snapped then s
hook her head and glanced at Carl. She sighed and shook her head again, the woman’s fingers involuntarily scratching at the scar tissue on her throat. “Sorry, man.”

Becca and Paulie looked at each other and grinned. “OOOHH!” Paulie said as he playfully poked Rodriguez’s arm. “You said a naughty word, Frannie.”
The kids turned to their daddy and grinned. “Frannie said a naughty word! Naughty word!”

“Oh, shush!” Rodriguez muttered as she smiled at the little ones and dug around in her pockets until she found what she was looking for. “Here. Now eat your lunch,
you little goofballs.” Frannie gave each of the children a quarter. “Jeez I Gotta watch my mouth. I’m almost out of change.”

Lacey smiled and shook his head. “I’ve been trying to tell you.” he said quietly. The Marine finished the last of his Gatorade and pushed back from the table. “Not my fault you’re hardheaded.”

Carl and his sister sniggered then looked at each other. No word. With no idea what was going on outside their little world here in the woods it would be extremely dangerous to go venturing outside of it. That did not change the fact that they needed to find a doctor and soon. It did not seem likely that she was going to get any less pregnant… “It’s gonna be okay, Carl.” Amy said as she put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “We’re gonna be alright.”

The young man smirked and glanced at his sister.
‘It’s gonna be okay’ is getting to be our motto or some shit.
Carl thought and tightly squeezed Amy’s hand. He smirked as the scene from the movie
Reservoir Dogs
came to mind where Harvey Kietel was trying to comfort that guy that got shot in the stomach.
You’re gonna be okay! Say the goddamn words!
Carl thought, barely containing a burst of laughter. “Sure, Aim.” he said quietly as he forced a smile, as much for Amy’s benefit as the kids. “It’s gonna be just fine.”

After they finished with lunch and did the dishes Lacey put the kids down for a nap. The grownups gathered around the table once the little ones were asleep on the couch. The four of them were quiet for a little while
, listening to the wind picking up outside. There might be another rainstorm soon. Lacey refilled the pitcher with water from the tap and brought it back.

“So, where are we going to go if we have to leave?” Amy asked,
pouring herself a cup of water. She dug around in the map pocket of her LCS and took out the road atlas and tactical map then spread them on the table. “I’d say that large cities and stuff are a no go.”

Rodriguez looked at the map and scratched at something under her nose. “There’s Camp Edwards.” she said quietly
as she tried to find it on the map. “Cape Cod AFS too…there they are.”

“No go.” Amy shook her head once she saw where Frannie had put her finger on the map. “
Look how close we’d have to go to Boston. Even if they held out, I don’t think we’d stand a chance of getting there.”

“There’s a naval base in Connecticut.” Lacey said, resting his chin on his hand. “It’s near New London. I think its closer, but I don’t want to go all that way and find out that it’s like Devens.” The Marine pointed out on the map that it was indeed a closer to them than Frannie’s suggestions but again, they would have to go close to several bigger towns or cities.

Amy grumbled under her breath. “I’d suggest Westover AFB, but it’s pretty much gotta be overrun.” She frowned. The airbase was almost right in the center of Springfield, Massachusetts so it would have been a magnet for the thousands of people in the city followed closely by every Bravo Charlie in the area. Dad had said there was rioting in Springfield… “They might have bombed it too.” Frays ran a hand over her face and muttered “I think we should actually assume the fast movers hit every military installation of any size around here. Remember those F-18s we saw? I still think they came from Boston Harbor or something.”

Carl looked at his sister. “How do you know they didn’t come from Westover or Hanscomb?” he asked, scowling at the map. There had to be somewhere
that had a goddamn hospital or fuck he would almost take a fucking veterinarian at this point. “If there’s ships in the harbor, why don’t we try to find them or something?”

“Hanscomb didn’t have any F-18s.” Amy said and exhaled slowly through her nose. Her Air Force Reserve unit’s armory had been in a squat brick building at Hanscomb Air Force Base. “And we saw the place, Carl. It got hammered flat, looked like
they dropped JDAMs and a whole mess of incendiaries on the place. I don’t think they’d do that if the flyboys didn’t have someplace else to land.”

The four of them poured over the maps for a couple more hours, each of them searching for a possible destination. Rodriguez noticed that Freddie was emitting a low whine that sounded suspiciously like
an ‘I have to pee now, people’ sort of noise. “Hey, guys.” she said as she stood up and patted the dog’s head. “Looks like the dog’s gotta go out. Let’s take a break for a minute.”                           

Lacey and Rodriguez
walked the dog with a makeshift leash made from a couple feet of 550 cord. The whole scene might have looked odd under other circumstances: a man and woman in ACUs and full combat gear, armed to the teeth…and walking a bony dog with a goofy look on its face and wagging its tail. Frannie glanced away from Freddie as he cocked his leg up and sent a stream of urine against the trunk of a tree near the house. She frowned and scratched the dog’s ear when it finished its business. “Good dog.” Rodriguez told him, her mood lightening a little when the dog looked up with its tail wagging. “Freddie’s a good dog!”

“The kids always wanted a dog.” Lacey said quietly with a small smile. The two of them walked back towards the back door. “I didn’t really want one and Laura did.” A few tears leaked down his face and he wiped them away absently “We used to argue about it all the time.”

Frannie put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright, buddy.” she said as Freddie started tugging at the leash and whining. A few scattered raindrops thumped on her Kevlar. “C’mon, let’s get inside. It’s starting to rain.” Rodriguez blinked back a couple tears as she clapped him on the back and tried to force a smile.

The wind changed, bringing a noise to
their ears that instantly brought a clenching to Lacey’s bowels and cold sweat springing to his brow. He heard a low discordant groan like Hell’s own chorus and the snapping and crunching of dozens of clumsy, uncoordinated things coming through the trees. The Marine bent and picked up the dog, holding the struggling animal to his chest as he and Rodriguez sprinted the short distance to the house. The first of them crashed out of the trees, lurching after them as they reached the back door.

“Open up!” Frannie shouted, banging on the door with the palm of her hand “FRAYS! CARL! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!” She cast a terrified glance over her shoulder and
felt something the temperature and consistency of hot fudge in the back of her pants. Eight figures slouched towards them: men, women and what looked like a couple kids all of them pallid disheveled their eyes burning with frenzied hunger.
The most fucked up family vacation ever…
The strange incongruity of the thought almost made Frannie giggle to herself. “CONTACT REAR!” Rodriguez shouted as she turned on her heel and brought up her M4 in one fluid motion then flicked off the safety. The nearest creature’s head dissolved as she pressed off a shot, catching it right above the chin.

Lacey kicked the door. “FRAYS, WHAT THE FUCK! OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR!” he screamed, his voice going shrill with fear. He looked over his shoulder as Rodriguez fired again, her shot glancing off another zombie’s skull. When he looked back Frays stood in the doorway, the pistol grip of her carbine in one hand the weapon pointed at the ceiling. With the other she grabbed Adam’s shoulder and pushed him around her into the house.

He threw Freddie down and the animal ran deeper into the house, leaving a trail of fear induced urine in his wake. The dog narrowly avoided Carl as the boy rushed into the hall, the shotgun in his hands. “Carl, come up here.” Lacey ordered as he turned back to help Frays and Rodriguez. “Hold the door. There’s a lot of them out there, but I think we can handle it. Just stay here and cover us, alright?”

Lacey rushed back outside just in time to see Frays snap off a shot, dropping a zombie only a few dozen feet away right where the graded cement of the walkway met the driveway. There was a small pile of deactivated Bravo Charlies there forming an impromptu barricade of sorts: the creatures stumbled over their fallen, giving Frays and
Rodriguez a chance to take them down before they got too close.

There was a cement stai
rcase leading down to a small area where there was a clothesline set up so Lacey moved to cover the area. Just in time it seemed as a child shuffled towards them. Adam noticed that it had been a little boy, maybe a few years older than his own children. There was dried blood caked around its chin, smeared on its cheeks it’s hands grasping and its eyes the color of boiled onions. The 5.56 NATO round decapitated it and the creature took a couple shaky steps before flopping to the ground.

Amy glanced over her shoulder at Rodriguez. The steel wool in their suppressors burned out, the gunshots echoing off the corrugated steel overhead becoming very loud. “Advance!” Frays shouted over the ringing in her ears, hoping Rodriguez heard her. The two of them moved forward slowly, covering the area with their weapons.
They halted just shy of the pile of corpses and Frays spotted two more zombies coming up the driveway. She and Rodriguez dropped them quickly. Lacey was firing behind them…

The battle seemed to peter out a few minutes later. The infected streaming towards the camp slowed and finally appeared to stop. Frays scanned her sector then slowly stood up after ten or fifteen minutes. When no more enemies presented themselves she flicked her weapon’s safety back on, the M4 still pointed towards the trees. “Clear.” Frays said
the woman’s voice soft and shaky, her chest heaving as the adrenaline gradually started to wear off. There was a whining buzz in her ears as she looked slowly from side to side.

“Clear.” Rodriguez agreed. An embarrassed, uncomfortable look came to the woman’s face. She glanced towards Lacey, who stood there with his M16 still pointed down the stairs. “Clear, Lacey?”

“C-Clear.” the Marine said as he finally managed to get his arms to listen to what his brain was trying to tell them. He lowered his weapon and walked towards the women on legs that felt like they were made of jelly. “Everybody okay?”

Rodriguez and Frays looked
at each other and nodded. Frays’ face was a little pale and shaking the pinkish scar under her eye standing out on her cheek. Rodriguez made an odd face as she shifted her weight uncomfortably. “I think I shit my pants.” Frannie mumbled. She let her eyes scan the trees on the other side of the road, the area around the Humvee. Anything to avoid meeting Lacey or Frays’ eyes.

Lacey smiled awkwardly. “Don’t feel bad.” he said as the realization struck hi
m. Yes, there was indeed a warm heavy weight in the backside of his trousers. “I think I did too.” Frays smiled uneasily and tossed her head towards the back door. The three of them retreated cautiously, Amy walking backwards to cover them until they were inside.

Carl stood and stared, shocked by the piles of dead bodies stacked up by the rear of the house. Amy was pulling security while he, Frannie and Adam policed up the deactivated zombies and put them in a heap in the middle of the
gravel road along with a lot of loose brush for kindling. Lacey soaked the bodies with paint thinner from a metal container he found under a workbench in the woodshop and set it alight.