The Zombie Virus (Book 2): The Children of the Damned (37 page)

Heinlich gave the two a nod and they fell in
with him as he ran out of the building and jumped aboard the
Stryker. Reese was the last out, surveying the interior one last
time before hopping onto the Stryker. It rumbled to life, and the
eight-wheeled transport tore off through the parking lot, throwing
out sprays of slushy water as it accelerated toward the road.
Within minutes, it disappeared from sight. It had only taken ten
minutes from the time that the Stryker had first pulled up at the
building until it had sped away after the squad had set the two
charges.

The two women and the ten year old boy sat in
the cold Humvee, hidden within the darker shadows of the woods on a
small rise overlooking the target building. Murchison watched
through a set of binoculars as the Stryker disappeared down the
road on its way back to base. She then turned her attention back to
the building. It remained quiet and lifeless. She scanned up the
road in the direction the swarm had taken earlier that morning, and
seeing nothing stirring in that direction, set the glasses down and
leaned back into the driver’s seat.

“We may as well get comfortable,” Camilla
said with a sigh. “I think we’re going to be here a while.”

She pulled the hairband out of her auburn
hair and let her long, thick mane fall free around her shoulders.
She glanced over at Sarah in the passenger seat. “You take the next
watch. I’m going to catch an hour or two of shut-eye.”

Sarah nodded to her and picked up the
binoculars and put them to her eyes. Behind Murchison, the boy was
snoring softly on the back seat under a thick wool blanket. He had
taken the first watch when they had arrived on the hill right
before dawn and had spotted the big swarm emerging from the
building in a long, snaking line after the sun had risen.

Camilla pulled the wool blanket that covered
her lap up around her shoulders. Even though the temperatures were
climbing above the freezing point outside, the air inside the
vehicle remained chilly. Running the engine to heat the interior
was out of the question. She closed her eyes and tried to relax.
She wished McCully was here to help her accomplish that. He may be
younger, however he sure wasn’t lacking in experience. She smiled
to herself thinking of the red-headed private. They had only hooked
up a few weeks back out of boredom and loneliness. Nevertheless,
their casual relationship now appeared to be heading in a more
serious direction. At least that is what
he
thought. Not
that she minded. In fact, she encouraged it. Her husband had become
one of the crazies on the first day and she had barely escaped from
him with her life. She didn’t miss him so much anymore. Thank God
they had never had children. She wouldn’t have survived as long as
she had if she had been dragging a snot-nosed brat behind her. Even
on her own, survival had been tenuous at best.

When she started running into other small
knots of people she had used her body to get what she needed to
ensure she was safe and fed. Men were so damned easy to
control.

She and Debra had been the last of a small
group of refugees; the rest had succumbed to attacks by the
crazies. Not all at once, still, losing one or two at a time every
week took its toll. When her newest man had gone out on a supply
run with three others, leaving the two women alone at the camp and
then never returned, Camilla knew it was time to seek greener
pastures. It was the best of luck that they had been spotted by the
soldiers manning an observation post at the Interstate 81 and 64
interchange, and even better luck that that bull of a man McCully
had been at the post. He had caught her eye immediately and she had
turned all of her charms on him. It wasn’t long before she had him
sniffing up her skirt. Again, there was a lot of boredom and
loneliness at the armory, so for a good-looking woman, snaring a
man wasn’t too much of an effort.

She thought she looked damn sexy in the
uniform they had supplied her, at least for a girl in her
mid-thirties. Getting to put some holes in the fucking crazies was
a perquisite that made the deal all the sweeter.
I
am
woman
;
hear
me
roar
was her last
thought before sleep overcame her.

It felt like only minutes had passed until
she was being dragged out of a deep dreamless sleep by someone
shaking her shoulder. She forced her eyes open to see the boy’s
face peering into hers.

“What is it?” she asked groggily.

“The swarm. It’s on its way back.”

She sat up in her seat and stared down at the
four-lane highway that swept past the target building. Sarah handed
her the binoculars although even with her naked eyes she could see
the river of crazies flowing down the highway in a thick, solid
stream. She put the glasses to her eyes and could see the leaders,
four or five raggedly dressed men who set the pace and walked
several steps apart from the body of the swarm.

The
head
of
the
snake
. The thought leaped unsolicited into her head.

“How long was I out?” she asked her
companions.

“Over four hours,” Sarah told her.

The swarm turned into the parking lot and
then began pouring through the open doors of the large building in
a long snaking line.

“You should have woken me earlier.”

“I told her not to,” Jeremy said from back
between the seats where he knelt. “You were sleeping real good and
I was up anyway.”

The last of the swarm disappeared into the
building and the parking lot was again quiet and motionless. She
called Gypsy Hill and informed them that the swarm had
returned.

“Now we wait again,” Camilla said.

Except this time, they all kept their eyes
glued to the building. None of them wanted to miss the fireworks
display.

After the first hour, boredom set in and
their attentions wandered from the building. At almost two hours
since the crazies had returned, Camilla began to wonder if
something had gone wrong with the IED. She picked up the binoculars
and scoped the building’s opening. Nothing moved inside or out.

“Something must have gone wrong,” she said.
“It should have—”

The ground shifted under them and a flash of
bright light and jets of white smoke rocketed out of the front of
the building, then the roof bubbled upwards before settling back as
if into a depression. The rumbling sound of the shockwave washed
over them, rocking the Humvee on its springs.

From the front of the burning building a
handful of flaming torches ran into the parking lot, their human
shapes barely recognizable. The figures collapsed into smoldering
piles on the asphalt, consumed by the white-hot fire.

“Let’s call it in and get the fuck out of
here,” Camilla said to her two passengers. Within minutes, the
Humvee was racing away through the patchy melting snow on its way
back to the armory, everyone inside jubilant after a very
successful mission of annihilating several hundred of those
murderous creatures.

Every one of the Stonewall Brigade was in a
euphoric mood at the armory that evening. They now had a verified
procedure to eradicate the swarms that were infecting the city. All
of them realized that in time, they would be able to safely live
outside these walls and these fences; to be in real homes with real
beds and thus to live a somewhat human existence once again. So
they celebrated.

Jeremy celebrated with them, however his
triumph and joy wasn’t only about the day’s events. After they had
returned from observing the swarm of Loonies fry like bacon on a
griddle, Shavers had told him that they would leave in the morning
on a run to his parents’ farm. He was absolutely sure that he would
finally be reunited with his mom and papa after what felt like an
eternity apart from them. He had so much to tell them. An hour ago
they had had an informal swearing in ceremony for the civilians.
Now they were officially-unofficially in the Army. He laughed to
himself, all without the dreaded boot camp he had heard so much
about.

They would leave at daybreak. Sergeant Greg
Heinlich, Private Sarah Ferguson and Private Jeremy McQuinn
together in an up-armored Humvee with a stated mission of locating
seeds for spring planting and with the unofficial goal of getting
Jeremy to his parents’ place. They would be armed to the teeth with
more than enough spare ammo and fuel to get them down there and
back. Jeremy knew he would have a hard time sleeping that night
because of his excitement, just like he used to get on Christmas
Eve back when he believed Santa Claus was on his way to leave
presents under the tree. The world was spinning in the right
direction for him for once, the first time since the day of the
Loonies began so long ago. The jubilation instantly drained from
his body when he spotted Nantz sitting next to Sarah at another
table and saw him lean into her and whisper something in her ear
that made her laugh loudly. She leaned back into him and gave him a
playful nudge. The two appeared to be acting in a way that denoted
more than just friends. Jeremy felt a dark, angry jealousy rear its
black head in his gut and he promptly got to his feet and told Kyle
to excuse him. Jumper, sensing the boy’s distress, raised his head
off of his paws and looked questioningly up at the boy. Jeremy
ignored the dog, and with a scowl on his face walked over to the
two and pulled up a seat next to Sarah. He shot the sharp-faced man
an icy-look, and then smiled charmingly at Sarah.

“Can you give me a hand putting my stuff
together for tomorrow?”

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and
took another quick sip of warm beer from the bottle in her hand.
“Later, Jeremy, I’m trying to relax a little bit.”

“Beat it kid, we’re busy,” Nantz said
brusquely.

Sarah gave Nantz an irritated look, “Be
nice!” she warned, frowning at the man.

“Sorry,” he replied to her then glared at
Jeremy with a forced smile. “
Please
beat it, kid.”

Sarah slapped the man playfully on the arm
and then turned to Jeremy. She leaned in and gave him a peck on the
cheek. “I’ll catch up with you later. Okay, sport?”

Jeremy stared at her for a moment trying to
convey the dislike for what was going on between her and Nantz
before finally nodding and standing up. He left without saying
goodbye, his mood soured for the evening. She never did catch up
with him later.

The next morning, the three people set off on
the mission with little fanfare. They would conduct constant radio
checks on their way south until they were out of range. They then
would be on their own for the duration. Shavers had made it clear
that there were to be no heroics; they were to avoid confrontations
with any sizable packs of crazies and only engage small groups if
there was no other path to which they could safely retreat. There
would be no calling for reinforcements once they were out of radio
range.

Sarah had noticed that morning at breakfast
that Jeremy was giving her the cold shoulder. She knew he didn’t
like Butch Nantz much and the man acted like he felt the same way
about the boy. She had talked to Nantz about it last night and he
had promised to try and tolerate the kid a little better since it
was so important to her. Now she just had to work on Jeremy. She
really liked Butch and didn’t want to hurt the boy by rubbing the
blossoming relationship in his face. However, she wasn’t about to
neglect her love life for the kid either.

They set out from the armory, the day sunny
and warm, at least compared to the past week, and the snow had
mostly melted away except in areas that stayed in perpetual shadow
on the mountainsides. The Humvee made good time down the highway,
lacing its way through the scattered vehicles that littered the
roadway like castoff reminders of an era long forgotten. In a
little under an hour they were passing the small town of Lexington,
Virginia, where the esteemed Virginia Military Institute had had
its home. It was one of the areas they would avoid.

According to the Sergeant, the farm co-op was
located along a lonely country road that could be reached off one
of the next exits a dozen miles ahead. He didn’t expect any major
confrontations with the crazies, as there had been no large human
population concentrations in the area, mostly scattered farms and
homesteads. Still, he told them, they should go in expecting the
worst.

The Humvee pulled off the highway onto the
two-lane road, which was relatively free of any abandoned vehicles.
Within a mile the farm co-op building loomed on the side of the
road on a large lot strewn with neatly arranged farm implements,
fencing, posts, a propane filling center, and a multitude of other
supplies that were needed to support the county’s farming
community.

They pulled to the front of the building,
shut down the engine, and sat in the vehicle, scrutinizing the
store and the road for any crazy activity. Finally, Heinlich
stepped out of the passenger door, rifle in hand while his
hazel-colored eyes darted back and forth, searching for any
movement. He motioned for the others to come out. Sarah slid out of
the driver’s seat and Jeremy climbed over it behind her, both
looking relaxed with their rifles slung tight at their chests over
their load bearing vests.

“We’ll make this as quick as possible.”
Heinlich’s gravelly voice became coarser, reflecting the tension he
felt whenever things were going too smoothly. “Remember, the only
things we want are vegetable seeds, any other shit for growing we
can get locally.”

They approached the door to the co-op and saw
their first sign that they weren’t the only people, or non-people,
to have visited the store since the apocalypse. A concrete block
had been thrown through the glass door, some time ago judging by
the dried leaves that had blown through the opening. The Sergeant
motioned for the others to go to condition one with their rifles
and to turn on the lights attached to the firearms’ front rail.
When they were ready, he led the way through the door, crunching
the broken glass beneath his boots as he entered the dark
interior.