The Zombie Virus (Book 2): The Children of the Damned (16 page)

He also warned of a moderate sized swarm of
crazies that had a warren in the warehouse across Statler Boulevard
from the Kroger. This was the swarm that was observed nesting at
the Hospital Cemetery during the warmer period a few weeks ago.
This swarm was one of several that would hit the lakes at the old
quarry before heading out in search of food each morning. During
the last patrol the Kroger’s doors looked to still be intact and
hopefully most of the food stock was still available. Even if the
crazies had already been through it, the canned goods would still
be viable, he explained to them.

They would utilize one of the HEMTT’s, an
eight wheeled off-road capable heavy-hauler about the size of a
tractor-trailer rig along with a HMMWV, which was fondly referred
to as the Humvee in the military, with a .50-cal for support. He
hoped he wasn’t being optimistic in the amount of food they would
be able to liberate from the store. Still, it would be the largest
grocery store they had hit since they had started scavenging for
food. The idea was to score enough to keep them from having to make
another food run for several months if need be.

“How old is the intelligence on the store and
the swarm?” Reese asked from the back of the room.

“It’s been about six days since we were last
through there,” Heinlich answered.

“That sure as hell don’t give me the warm and
fuzzies,” the old man replied, leaning forward with his elbows on
the table. “You should know better than acting on intelligence that
old.”

“Normally I would concur with you,” Shavers
replied calmly. “However, we’re going to be out of food within a
week. It would take that long to set up and observe the area long
enough to collect the kind of information we would need to do this
mission safely, and with just as much danger to the scouting
party.” He took a deep breath before resuming.

“Heinlich and I decided to take a squad and
go in hot and fast and get what we can. Back the Hemmitt right
through the doors and start loading. If anything looks out of the
ordinary we can terminate the mission and haul ass back here. We
need the food, sooner rather than later.”

Reese looked back at him with that cold stare
of an old killer, shrugged his shoulders and smiled slyly.

Damn
him
! Shavers thought.
That
old
man
can
get
under
my
skin
.
I’m
just
glad
he’s
with
us
and
not
against
us
.

He looked away from Reese and continued
disseminating the plan. He would be driving the Hemmitt and
Heinlich the Humvee. Nantz, Carroll, and Benton would be with
Heinlich, while McCully would be running shotgun with him in the
Hemmitt. Pickeral would remain at the armory on comms and Murchison
would be on watch on the roof’s observation post. They would leave
the armory at 1000 hours. Because of the logjam of cars in and
around the city, they would have to take a circuitous route to
Dogwood Hill, so total transit time was expected to be 35 minutes.
They would have one hour to get everything on their shopping list
before departing the area and returning to base. Total mission time
shouldn’t exceed two hours fifteen minutes.

“See Sergeant Heinlich for weapon assignments
and load outs. Any questions?” He looked around the table.

“When do we go back to Waynesboro?” McCully
asked after the room remained silent for a few moments.

“Sometime in the next few days. I’ll let you
know.” There were no other questions. “Okay, that’s it. We’ll have
a 0900 mission briefing for those involved in tomorrow’s run.”

The meeting broke up with some ‘Hooahs’ and
people filed out leaving Shavers and Heinlich in the room
alone.

“Get the boy on the watch list,” Shavers told
the Sergeant. “Also see if you can find a spare stock for that AR
pistol he seems to cherish. He’ll need a more stable weapons
platform if he’s going to be working with us.”

“Sure,” Heinlich replied. He stood up to
leave, then paused and turned back. “You know Reese is correct. We
are heading in there blind.”

Shavers nodded with a sigh. “Not completely.
There are simply no good choices. We found out the hard way that
going house to house to scavenge food doesn’t work to our
advantage.”

“Maybe we ought to bring the Stryker along
for shits and giggles.”

“No, although let’s have it on standby with a
crew tomorrow as a QRF.”

A QRF was Army terminology for a Quick
Reaction Force used to respond in short order to emergencies.

“I’ll see to it.” Heinlich spun on his heels
and exited the room, leaving Shavers staring absently at the map on
the table.

For the first time since the worldwide
pandemic began, Jeremy slept a deep, undisturbed sleep in the
relatively comfortable and secure National Guard Armory. He and
Heinlich had transformed his AR pistol into a short-barreled rifle
with the addition of an M4 stock. He was happy with the change, and
it felt like the firearm was more balanced in his hands, even with
the added weight of the sliding stock. He and the stocky Sergeant
had sat together in the shop working on the firearm by candle and
flashlight while talking about both of their past experiences since
the virus had hit.

He had told the Sergeant about his father
being in the Army and achieving the rank of Major before leaving to
work at the facility in Southern Maryland. He found out from
Heinlich that they had generators, although they only ran them when
necessary so as not to attract the attention of the Loonies. They
used mostly propane for cooking and heating water. They were able
to charge the batteries with a set of solar panels that they had
liberated from a highway construction sign and had used some 12
volt truck batteries hooked up to the panels to run LED lights in
the bunkrooms and chow hall.

He woke up the next morning to the sound of
activity in and around the bunkroom, feeling more rested than he
had in a long time. Jumper had slept on the floor next to him the
entire night in order to be closer to him; neglecting the bunk
Jeremy had set up for him. The air in the room was chilly and
Jeremy hurriedly got dressed, strapped on his firearms, and headed
to the mess hall where he found Sarah drinking an instant coffee
and eating a slice of bread with jam smeared on it.

Jeremy sat down across from her and she
smiled at him and said good morning. Her smile seemed to brighten
the entire room and he couldn’t help but smile back. Jumper sat on
the floor next to the boy and stared hungrily at a partial loaf of
bread that sat on the table in front of the girl as if it was a
prized piece of beef.

“Have some bread,” she offered Jeremy,
shoving the loaf and jam toward him. “We make it fresh a couple
times a week.”

He mumbled his thanks and sliced himself off
a piece of the thick-crusted white bread.

“I saw they put you on the watch list for
this evening,” Sarah said to him between bites.

He nodded. “The Sergeant showed me where I
need to go and what to look for last night. I’m glad I can
help.”

“So I guess you decided to stay?”

He shrugged his shoulders noncommittally as
he heaped a glob of strawberry jam onto his bread and spread it
around.

“I’d like you to stay,” she added, smiling
kindly at him.

He only nodded again, not looking up at her
as he took a bite of his bread. He really wanted to stay here with
these people, especially Sarah, yet he also knew he needed to find
his parents. He guessed staying here a few days wouldn’t matter
much. The farm wasn’t going anywhere and maybe he could ask the
Sergeant if they could drive him there later. His GPS unit was
charging in one of the Humvees and the unit had calculated only a
two hour drive time from their current location when Jeremy had
powered it up to show the Sergeant where he was headed. If his
parents weren’t waiting for him there, he could leave them a note
and come back here, or maybe Sarah would want to go there with him
and wait for them at the house. This thought brought a smile to his
face, although he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with her
while they were there, a kiss sure would be nice though.

“Listen, sport, the squad is about to head to
the grocery store. I’m on standby in the Stryker. You’re welcome to
come and hang out with me if you want, but I have to go now.” She
downed the last of her coffee and stood up.

Jeremy nodded, feeling silly at being at a
loss for words around her.

“Stay and finish eating then come on out when
you’re done.” She kissed him on the top of his head and left. He
wondered dizzily what that kiss would have felt like on his
lips.

Jumper whined beside him and shifted
impatiently, breaking the spell. Jeremy stared at the dog and
laughed. “Yeah, I know I’m being silly,” he told the dog, “but she
is really pretty.”

He broke the remaining bread in half and gave
it to the dog, who wolfed it down in one gulp then looked longingly
at the remaining piece as Jeremy applied jam to it. Jeremy took two
large bites and then tossed the rest to Jumper, who grabbed it up
and swallowed it whole.

The parking area of the Armory was awash in
activity when Jeremy and Jumper walked out of the building. A large
eight-wheeled truck in a desert camo paint scheme sat idling in
front of the gate. Jeremy thought that its cab had a space-age
appearance to it with its triangular shaped nose and massive moon
tires. The cargo bed was approximately the size of a tractor
trailer rig and the entire vehicle sat high enough off the ground
that he could almost walk upright under it. Jeremy spotted Shavers
behind the wheel and the big black man waved to him with a brief
flick of his hand. Jeremy fleetingly waved back. In the passenger
seat McCully’s fiery red beard burned brightly in the morning sun
through the truck’s massive front window.

Behind it sat an up-armored Humvee, its
engine running quietly compared to the big truck. It was also
painted in the same camouflage scheme as the truck that Shavers had
called the Hemmitt. Sticking out of the hatch behind the Browning
M2 stood Nantz, his bearded face wrapped in an olive-drab colored
scarf against the chill of the morning. Between the folds of the
scarf a cigarette protruded from his lips that he nervously smoked
while waiting for the mission to begin. Jeremy could see Heinlich
in the driver’s seat, both hands on the wheel with his fingers
impatiently tapping out a soundless tune while he waited. Beside
him sat a man with a large, shiny black head.
That
must
be
PFC
Carroll
, he thought, also
tapping along to music on his M4 rifle which he held between his
legs.

The Stryker had been turned around from the
night before and was pointing nose toward the gate. Its motor
warmed up with a deep chugging sound coming from its idling diesel
engine. Hernandez finished her walk around of the vehicle and
climbed back onto the deck and got ready to drop through the
driver’s hatch. She spotted Jeremy and winked at him without
smiling while she adjusted her radio headset and then dropped
through the hatch. The rear ramp was open and Jeremy made his way
to the back of the vehicle and climbed up and inside. Jumper found
a sunny spot on the pavement and lay down with his eyes watching
the boy as he disappeared inside the vehicle.

Reese was standing in the hatch behind the
roof mounted machine gun, clamping a belt of .50-caliber rounds
into its feeding mechanism.

Jeremy walked over and sat down next to
Sarah. She was wearing the same cord mounted headset that McCully
had had on yesterday, listening to the radio traffic. She smiled
briefly at Jeremy then removed the headset and hung it on the wall
behind her.

“Wait here,” she said to him. “I gotta open
the gate when the lookout gives the all clear.” She ducked out of
the Stryker and disappeared around the side.

Jeremy moved up to the front and then crawled
on hands and knees down the tightly cramped crawlspace that the
Stryker teams referred to as the ‘Hell Hole’, which was supposed to
allow the driver to escape in the event of a rollover. The boy
wondered how that was supposed to work as even he had trouble
negotiating the compact tunnel littered with equipment. He reached
the back of the driver’s seat and was barely able to sit up with
his head against the ceiling. He looked past Hernandez’s shoulder
at a monitor for a forward looking camera that showed Sarah at the
gate removing a chain and padlock. The corporal hadn’t heard him
clamber up the crawlspace and practically jumped out of her skin
when he said “Hello.”

“Hey, kid,” she greeted him after she
regained her composure while her hands moved over the vehicle’s
controls.

“How long do you have to sit here?” he asked
the woman.

“Until they get back; two hours or so,”
replied Hernandez, glancing back at the boy.

“If you guys have to go out, can I come
too?”

She looked at Jeremy hard. “I don’t think so,
kid.”

“Why not? I’m good with my gun.” He patted
the Sig rifle strapped to his chest.

“That’s what I heard.” She smiled at him
finally. “Look, kid, the plan I was briefed on didn’t have you
anywhere in it. I have to follow orders too, you know.”

“Shavers didn’t say I
couldn’t
go did
he?”

Hernandez sighed. “No, kid, he didn’t.”

“You’re in command of the Stryker today
aren’t you?”

She smiled again. “And your point is?”

“The First Sergeant didn’t tell you I
couldn’t go. You know I can shoot. If you’re in charge you can let
me stay on board.” She laughed. “You got some cajones, kid. We’ll
see.” She grew silent as she listened to something in her headset
and held up her hand for Jeremy to remain quiet.