We are now holding lotteries for time off from duties. It was either this or a strike it seems. People are just worn down. I knew it would happen, but I thought it would happen later. The schedules came up today on the dining hall walls. General bitching ensued. Funny thing is most people are doing less, but we are all rotating our jobs. Will help with the burnout and we all can step in to do things. I and Jake are suspiciously absent. Well the Major and Dad is too, but that was kinda a given. Those two are always looking at maps and talking in whispers. I have never seen Dad happier. Odessa is asking me why I am not on the list. How the Hell should I know? Ask Janet. So she did. Oh Boy.
Seems me and Jake are to be promoted. Great. Now if only we were being paid…
Anyway, Jake is going to collect as many long range weapons as he can find and start sniper classes. Me on the other hand am teaching people survival tactics. Yeah me. Well with a busted up leg and not being able to walk very well, I get to roll my happy ass around in an infirmary wheelchair. I swear to GOD (and he better be listening or whoever better be) if John calls me ‘Hot wheels’ again I will shoot him with my rifle. In the chest. So he can get bitten, rise again and I get to kill him again. Anyway. I am taking all of my lifelong paranoid knowledge (but I was riiiiight, the world ended) and passing it along. I gotta think of things to say and organize all this for Friday. Just great.
Doc says my pneumonia is better (How he can tell when I feel like shit is beyond me) and that I should rest and drink plenty of liquids, not alcohol but water, and juice if we can scavenge some up. I am using the NetBook to relay reports and a pencil and paper to make notes for class. Where to begin? I know what we need and I know where to get it. If I can get there. Well the hospital raid is still being planned. Jake and a few guys are out in a Humvee scouting the area around the hospital. They encountered no ‘bad guys’ only plenty of the walking dead. Seems between the fires and our little display of Armageddon with machine guns, we woke up the crawling populace. Jake said they number in at least a thousand, just by figuring out the square area of the parking lots and the amount of space each Z took up. Some kind of hokey math principle or something, I just think he was too lazy to count. Seems we are going to revise our hospital raiding plans. Taking more shotguns less rifles. Close quarters and oxygen cylinders not a good combination if we have to use firepower.
What else is going on? We had two van loads of people show up at our gates. They were unarmed except for 2 pistols. Three were volunteer fireman. HA! Great timing on that one, eh? Eleven more mouths to feed, but 22 more hands to help us build so it’s a good trade off. Five men and seven more women. Brings us up 107 people, 27 of which are children and not all of them are here with their families. At least the two men who are not firemen know about construction which will boost our wall manufacturing. We were planning on making some mistakes it seems with the actual mortar mix. We really need to raid the library for self help books instead of relying on the Internet.
We had our BBQ, wasn’t as good as I had hoped, but the guys didn’t think to get any steak sauce or BBQ sauce before coming back. See, the world goes to Hell when I am not around. Damn noobs. No chips or dip either. Sigh, do I gotta do everything myself?
Kelly brought back two pairs of thermal glasses from the fire department raid. He went out with them tonight and came in disgusted. Seems zombies don’t show up on thermal, being dead and all. He gave me a pair to play with while I am sitting around. They are cool; you can see people through walls, and watching them move around like orange-red ghosts. Fire companies were being issued these for the last few years because you can see through smoke with them to find people in burning buildings. I neglected to tell Kelly it WILL be mighty handy when we go bandit hunting later. I think I will tuck these and a few extra batteries away in my foot locker.
Okay, Doc says he needs to look at my leg again. See you all later.
Over.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Time off for good behavior
Seems I am being ordered to rest for a while as the Doc thinks I now have pneumonia. So when I am not on pain meds I am helping to plan a hospital raid for diagnostic equipment and anything else we could use. If I don’t get better soon, all I am going to do is plan, I won’t be in any shape to go. I will also set here and fantasize my revenge on the bandits at the air field if we didn’t kill a good many of them yesterday. Sigh, sucks to be them.
John’s been by with his new grandson and unfortunately it looks like him. Well, at least that got him out of my room for a while. Katy has been by every hour it seems, and Jake has been in and out as we go over plans and resources. Our food situation is not good at all. We are at the same amount of people as before but the food continues to dwindle. Albert and Gary are taking a 6X6 out about a mile and shooting a few cows to eat. Luckily the 4 men they are taking with them are avid hunters and they will be field dressing the cows before they bring it back, or I know Odessa would have nothing to do with helping them cook it. We are going to have a good ‘ol BBQ. Now if we just had some cold beer and some Cole slaw…
Even though we have power we keep the freezers and refrigerators just for food only. No matter how much I plead. No drinks in the coolers. The Major set up a ‘trap’ in the creek and has been stock piling beer and soda there. He was by a few minutes ago going over a finer detail of the plan; he was pushing Dad with him. Dad carried the beers. They weren’t frosty but they were chilled. We had a map drawn by Janet of where most of the machines we could feasibly move. Anything else would be too big or require more power than we had here. We just didn’t have enough people to secure such a large building, the Depot and Lowes all at once. Maybe if we had more people. The Major, now trusting my instincts, enacted another plan of mine. We would broadcast everyday at Noon and Midnight, A La ‘I am Legend’. We could use the help even though we were low on food.
Fires still burn in town but they don’t seem to be spreading. No chatter on any frequency from the bandits, regular folk or even the New Congress. I am hoping that was just a joke, but the Major informed me it was on a military scrambled channel, so ‘confidence’ was high that it was legit. I shake my head to myself. If only the New Congress had an army. We were also getting ready to start pouring the footers for our concrete fencing. People were getting run down too. Those who stay behind here and wait for us to return (those that do) I think have a much tougher time than we do when we go out into the world. I know Odessa’s nerves are about done. Zak is always wandering by and causing trouble. Bandits are a given problem so we don’t stay outside much, the chain link keeps the dead out but not bullets. People are looking a little frazzled. I think the only ones not depressed and ragged are the children. And the new mothers and one certain grandfather. Speaking of ragged, Fred I think has went around the bend and fell off the tracks. Lucy told us he was an accountant and lived alone all this time. ‘He was kind of a strange and a dork too.’ I didn’t know they still used that word since the 80’s. Janet is adapting fine, she is the Major’s admin now, she is organizing people, getting schedules done (To much groaning and moaning by us all) but routine may help us. Lucy is helping Odessa in the kitchen, but the girl reminds her so much of her niece that I can see her just staring at her as she works. We have not heard anything from them since the day John and I went to their house. Once I am up and around I will go out there again. This makes me try my cell phone for my brother, sister-in-law and my mom. ‘Call cannot be connected’ yada yada yada. I hope they are all right. I try her younger brother next. I get his voice mail!
I leave a message hoping he has a way to charge that iPhone monstrosity he calls a phone and calls me back. I am not telling Odessa until I hear something, it may just mean the system is working but no one there to pick up….
Our sprouts are coming along nicely in the ‘Lowes Gardens’ as we call them. We also got a pretty good batch of alcohol done. Too strong to drink but will make a suitable replacement for gasoline and for our own Molotov cocktails. I wanted a flame thrower but everyone nixed that idea. We had people beg me and my guys to get some more books for them or anything to read. The few TVs that work only pick up static. We did procure a few XBOX 360s and a couple of Wii’s for the kids. We do have to occasionally run the grownups off them. Madden NFL seems to be a favorite. We are going to start a school soon in one of the conference rooms, but we need to raid a school for books and stuff. I said it like that on purpose. ‘and stuff.’ I hate when people say that. But who am I? Miss Manners? Naw, some shmuck dumb enough to take a bullet in his leg. And here I sit. A captive audience of one. Haha. That’s funny. Being surrounded by military things. Oh, never mind, you’d have to be here.
Speaking of which, if anyone out there needs help or wants to join us, just let us know.
Well I am getting tired and my leg is throbbing something fierce, I think I will lay down for a while.
Over.
John’s been by with his new grandson and unfortunately it looks like him. Well, at least that got him out of my room for a while. Katy has been by every hour it seems, and Jake has been in and out as we go over plans and resources. Our food situation is not good at all. We are at the same amount of people as before but the food continues to dwindle. Albert and Gary are taking a 6X6 out about a mile and shooting a few cows to eat. Luckily the 4 men they are taking with them are avid hunters and they will be field dressing the cows before they bring it back, or I know Odessa would have nothing to do with helping them cook it. We are going to have a good ‘ol BBQ. Now if we just had some cold beer and some Cole slaw…
Even though we have power we keep the freezers and refrigerators just for food only. No matter how much I plead. No drinks in the coolers. The Major set up a ‘trap’ in the creek and has been stock piling beer and soda there. He was by a few minutes ago going over a finer detail of the plan; he was pushing Dad with him. Dad carried the beers. They weren’t frosty but they were chilled. We had a map drawn by Janet of where most of the machines we could feasibly move. Anything else would be too big or require more power than we had here. We just didn’t have enough people to secure such a large building, the Depot and Lowes all at once. Maybe if we had more people. The Major, now trusting my instincts, enacted another plan of mine. We would broadcast everyday at Noon and Midnight, A La ‘I am Legend’. We could use the help even though we were low on food.
Fires still burn in town but they don’t seem to be spreading. No chatter on any frequency from the bandits, regular folk or even the New Congress. I am hoping that was just a joke, but the Major informed me it was on a military scrambled channel, so ‘confidence’ was high that it was legit. I shake my head to myself. If only the New Congress had an army. We were also getting ready to start pouring the footers for our concrete fencing. People were getting run down too. Those who stay behind here and wait for us to return (those that do) I think have a much tougher time than we do when we go out into the world. I know Odessa’s nerves are about done. Zak is always wandering by and causing trouble. Bandits are a given problem so we don’t stay outside much, the chain link keeps the dead out but not bullets. People are looking a little frazzled. I think the only ones not depressed and ragged are the children. And the new mothers and one certain grandfather. Speaking of ragged, Fred I think has went around the bend and fell off the tracks. Lucy told us he was an accountant and lived alone all this time. ‘He was kind of a strange and a dork too.’ I didn’t know they still used that word since the 80’s. Janet is adapting fine, she is the Major’s admin now, she is organizing people, getting schedules done (To much groaning and moaning by us all) but routine may help us. Lucy is helping Odessa in the kitchen, but the girl reminds her so much of her niece that I can see her just staring at her as she works. We have not heard anything from them since the day John and I went to their house. Once I am up and around I will go out there again. This makes me try my cell phone for my brother, sister-in-law and my mom. ‘Call cannot be connected’ yada yada yada. I hope they are all right. I try her younger brother next. I get his voice mail!
I leave a message hoping he has a way to charge that iPhone monstrosity he calls a phone and calls me back. I am not telling Odessa until I hear something, it may just mean the system is working but no one there to pick up….
Our sprouts are coming along nicely in the ‘Lowes Gardens’ as we call them. We also got a pretty good batch of alcohol done. Too strong to drink but will make a suitable replacement for gasoline and for our own Molotov cocktails. I wanted a flame thrower but everyone nixed that idea. We had people beg me and my guys to get some more books for them or anything to read. The few TVs that work only pick up static. We did procure a few XBOX 360s and a couple of Wii’s for the kids. We do have to occasionally run the grownups off them. Madden NFL seems to be a favorite. We are going to start a school soon in one of the conference rooms, but we need to raid a school for books and stuff. I said it like that on purpose. ‘and stuff.’ I hate when people say that. But who am I? Miss Manners? Naw, some shmuck dumb enough to take a bullet in his leg. And here I sit. A captive audience of one. Haha. That’s funny. Being surrounded by military things. Oh, never mind, you’d have to be here.
Speaking of which, if anyone out there needs help or wants to join us, just let us know.
Well I am getting tired and my leg is throbbing something fierce, I think I will lay down for a while.
Over.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The Gauntlet
‘The rain came and washed away our fears.’ I heard that somewhere. And that’s what it did for us. And for Zak.
When the fires started to fizzle out and only burn the houses that were already engulfed (as anyone who has seen a real fire, it would take days to kill a good fire with rain) our dead head friends decided it was good time to grab a quick snack. They approached from all three streets at once. The milling crowd had become a mob and since they were packed tight we had no idea how many were in buildings, etc, too afraid of the fire. Alfred started to scream over the radio that we needed to get out of here and was almost to the APC when he was done screaming into it. Jake had beat him by a few seconds.
‘What gives? I said and ratcheted back the cocking handle on the 50.
‘I think I know why town was so empty, we just woke them all up. Look!’ Jake jumped up on the top with me and pointed straight ahead. Shit. There must be hundreds, maybe even a thousand or more starting to fill the streets. Thunder boomed overhead and they all stopped for a second or so. Strange that. Kelly and a few guys were stowing the fire truck hoses and getting it ready to move while I opened fire. Let me tell you. Those 50’s are LOUD and SHAKE the living Hell out of you. I fired small bursts so as not to waste ammo, each bullet felling a few zombies each, but more kept coming. I would knock back one wall of them and the other two streets of Zak would get a little closer. Jake fired his rifle on targets of opportunity and kept watching behind us. The siren on the fire truck screamed and it rode up beside us, Kelly and Gary in the cab.
‘What now o fearless leader?’ He smiled at me.
‘What do you mean? We get the Hell outta here!’ I screamed back and fired another burst. Jake tapped me on the shoulder and I looked up. F’ing great. A man on the building a half a block away was pointing a rifle our way. Jake took him out before the guy got into position. A bullet banged hard on the front armor shield of the 50. Just what we need.
‘Leave the truck and get in the APC we got bandits!’ I yelled as I was ducking behind what little cover the armor provided. Kelly nodded an got out of the fire truck as its windshield exploded. Gary was already diving to the ground. Zak on the ground and idiots on the rooftops, just my luck.
We buttoned up, well except for little ‘ol exposed me, and started forward. I swept the roof tops with the 50 as we started going to keep anyone up there occupied. The dead heads started to pile in around us but we kept on grinding forward, the tracks slipping on the wet streets and the gooey Zak parts. That’s how we went for about 2 blocks. The dead heads were reaching up over the sides of the APC, and every once in a while I would have to shoot them off with my rifle. The 50 only turns about 30 degrees either way from center, seems the damn cupola track is jammed, so I kept my rifle on the top with me, the sling wrapped over the pinion holding the 50 to the APC. Bullets were becoming a real concern about then, not mine, but incoming. Since I could only fire the 50 to the front, they were working on the rooftops behind us, showering us with love. Thankfully the hatch cover protected my back, but my head, with my helmet was still a little exposed. No snipers today or this report would have never happened. We started to slow and black smoke was pouring from the stack next to me, making it hard to see.
I pulled myself down the hatch and asked what was up. Michael, the driver, the guy who told me what this thing we were riding in was, looked over at me, covered in diesel smoke and soaked by rain, ‘They’re so many out there that this old girl is not got enough power to push through and we’re slipping on the street.’ He sighed. I hate when he sighs. ‘I’ll clear us a path.’ And I started to stand up a bullet came down the hatch and embedded itself into the floor. Great day, just great.
I got back up, hunched over and let Zak have it full bore in front of us. Michael geared the APC up and kept its speed up as I kept mowing the dead grass in front of us. We pushed through the last few lines of Zak and started to gain speed finally when from a cross street a beat-up pickup stopped in the middle of the road. Several men in the back had guns and they started firing at us, well, me.
‘Keep it floored Michael!’ I yelled and opened fire again. Let me tell you, a .50 caliber has more effect on a LIVE person than a DEAD one. It was payback time assholes. I swept the pickups’ cab first as small arms fire rattled the front gun shield and bounced off of the APC.
With their driver I am sure now dead, I turned my attention on the idiots scrambling over the truck bed sides. Let’s just say Zak would have a fine buffet and there were more holes than metal in that truck when we plowed into it. It looked like an old erector set and came apart just like one. We impacted the bed and it sheared away from the cab but we kept on going. We had just cleared the pickup truck carnage when a Molotov exploded just past us in the street. Michael sent the APC into a left turn/slide and we rounded a building, through a yard.
‘Turn us around Michael, Someone get me a new box of ammo out of the back.’ I was done fooling with this pyromaniac. I was tired of running from these assholes. Face it I was just too tired to care I was putting everyone and myself in danger. We dropped the back door and Jake scrambled up to me and helped me reload the 50. Gary was on the ground beside us watching the roof tops with his rifle. Jake said him and Albert would climb a building and pick off any stragglers. I told him it could be suicide from Zak alone. He was tired of these bandits too he retorted. Damn. I hate being relied upon. They took off into the building we had just used for cover and took all the ammo and supplies that they could carry. We dug our way out of the yard and back onto the street. The rain was still coming down in buckets. Unfortunately the bullets were too. While we were turning in the street, I was completely exposed on my sides so I slid back into the hatch until we completed our maneuver.
‘I don’t know how much longer this aluminum armor will hold up especially if they have something heavier than high powered rifles or AKs. These things were old when we were born, you know?’ Michael said as bullets popped and hissed off the armor.
‘How far is Zak?’ I asked as he looked through the periscope glass,
‘3 blocks maybe. You sure about this? We can’t be sure we will get them all.’
‘Nope but I think we can hurt them enough to make them leave.’
I slid back into the onslaught of rain and bullets. I would see a muzzle flash (by now my hearing was pretty gone, even with ear plugs. I say again 50s are LOUD) and I would pepper that area. I hoped Jake and Albert stayed to my right as planned and took opportunity shots. I saw a few men fall to the street ahead of me, one exploding into flames and I knew they were on the job. Thank God for snipers. We ‘walked’ up the street until we were within spitting distance of the dead head brigade and turned around. Either we got all the bandits or they had had enough for today. Michael was on the radio on the ‘all’ channel calling the bandits out with taunts and insults. Either they weren’t there or they weren’t listening. I even learned a few crude remarks by the time he was done. I finally slid down and closed the hatch us as we literally spun around on the slick street and went to pick up Jake and Albert.
So here we are back at home base. I think I caught a cold, we brought home 3 new people, we can flush our toilets again, the fires seem to be either out or aren’t spreading, we bloodied the nose of the local bandit population, and we know Zak prefers the indoors. Not a bad day all in all. I even get to ride John about taking the ‘gravy train’ to the water treatment plant and not pulling his weight. And I get to listen to 3 people tell me how foolish I was to be out in my condition. I am taking more pain killers. See you all later.
Over.
****
For those of you interested in finding out about the M113, I found this on a YouTube server;
M113 Video
It’s long but shows what this tough little vehicle can do.
If you see one with a large American Flag painted on all sides, it just might be me.
Or it may not, just be careful out there.
When the fires started to fizzle out and only burn the houses that were already engulfed (as anyone who has seen a real fire, it would take days to kill a good fire with rain) our dead head friends decided it was good time to grab a quick snack. They approached from all three streets at once. The milling crowd had become a mob and since they were packed tight we had no idea how many were in buildings, etc, too afraid of the fire. Alfred started to scream over the radio that we needed to get out of here and was almost to the APC when he was done screaming into it. Jake had beat him by a few seconds.
‘What gives? I said and ratcheted back the cocking handle on the 50.
‘I think I know why town was so empty, we just woke them all up. Look!’ Jake jumped up on the top with me and pointed straight ahead. Shit. There must be hundreds, maybe even a thousand or more starting to fill the streets. Thunder boomed overhead and they all stopped for a second or so. Strange that. Kelly and a few guys were stowing the fire truck hoses and getting it ready to move while I opened fire. Let me tell you. Those 50’s are LOUD and SHAKE the living Hell out of you. I fired small bursts so as not to waste ammo, each bullet felling a few zombies each, but more kept coming. I would knock back one wall of them and the other two streets of Zak would get a little closer. Jake fired his rifle on targets of opportunity and kept watching behind us. The siren on the fire truck screamed and it rode up beside us, Kelly and Gary in the cab.
‘What now o fearless leader?’ He smiled at me.
‘What do you mean? We get the Hell outta here!’ I screamed back and fired another burst. Jake tapped me on the shoulder and I looked up. F’ing great. A man on the building a half a block away was pointing a rifle our way. Jake took him out before the guy got into position. A bullet banged hard on the front armor shield of the 50. Just what we need.
‘Leave the truck and get in the APC we got bandits!’ I yelled as I was ducking behind what little cover the armor provided. Kelly nodded an got out of the fire truck as its windshield exploded. Gary was already diving to the ground. Zak on the ground and idiots on the rooftops, just my luck.
We buttoned up, well except for little ‘ol exposed me, and started forward. I swept the roof tops with the 50 as we started going to keep anyone up there occupied. The dead heads started to pile in around us but we kept on grinding forward, the tracks slipping on the wet streets and the gooey Zak parts. That’s how we went for about 2 blocks. The dead heads were reaching up over the sides of the APC, and every once in a while I would have to shoot them off with my rifle. The 50 only turns about 30 degrees either way from center, seems the damn cupola track is jammed, so I kept my rifle on the top with me, the sling wrapped over the pinion holding the 50 to the APC. Bullets were becoming a real concern about then, not mine, but incoming. Since I could only fire the 50 to the front, they were working on the rooftops behind us, showering us with love. Thankfully the hatch cover protected my back, but my head, with my helmet was still a little exposed. No snipers today or this report would have never happened. We started to slow and black smoke was pouring from the stack next to me, making it hard to see.
I pulled myself down the hatch and asked what was up. Michael, the driver, the guy who told me what this thing we were riding in was, looked over at me, covered in diesel smoke and soaked by rain, ‘They’re so many out there that this old girl is not got enough power to push through and we’re slipping on the street.’ He sighed. I hate when he sighs. ‘I’ll clear us a path.’ And I started to stand up a bullet came down the hatch and embedded itself into the floor. Great day, just great.
I got back up, hunched over and let Zak have it full bore in front of us. Michael geared the APC up and kept its speed up as I kept mowing the dead grass in front of us. We pushed through the last few lines of Zak and started to gain speed finally when from a cross street a beat-up pickup stopped in the middle of the road. Several men in the back had guns and they started firing at us, well, me.
‘Keep it floored Michael!’ I yelled and opened fire again. Let me tell you, a .50 caliber has more effect on a LIVE person than a DEAD one. It was payback time assholes. I swept the pickups’ cab first as small arms fire rattled the front gun shield and bounced off of the APC.
With their driver I am sure now dead, I turned my attention on the idiots scrambling over the truck bed sides. Let’s just say Zak would have a fine buffet and there were more holes than metal in that truck when we plowed into it. It looked like an old erector set and came apart just like one. We impacted the bed and it sheared away from the cab but we kept on going. We had just cleared the pickup truck carnage when a Molotov exploded just past us in the street. Michael sent the APC into a left turn/slide and we rounded a building, through a yard.
‘Turn us around Michael, Someone get me a new box of ammo out of the back.’ I was done fooling with this pyromaniac. I was tired of running from these assholes. Face it I was just too tired to care I was putting everyone and myself in danger. We dropped the back door and Jake scrambled up to me and helped me reload the 50. Gary was on the ground beside us watching the roof tops with his rifle. Jake said him and Albert would climb a building and pick off any stragglers. I told him it could be suicide from Zak alone. He was tired of these bandits too he retorted. Damn. I hate being relied upon. They took off into the building we had just used for cover and took all the ammo and supplies that they could carry. We dug our way out of the yard and back onto the street. The rain was still coming down in buckets. Unfortunately the bullets were too. While we were turning in the street, I was completely exposed on my sides so I slid back into the hatch until we completed our maneuver.
‘I don’t know how much longer this aluminum armor will hold up especially if they have something heavier than high powered rifles or AKs. These things were old when we were born, you know?’ Michael said as bullets popped and hissed off the armor.
‘How far is Zak?’ I asked as he looked through the periscope glass,
‘3 blocks maybe. You sure about this? We can’t be sure we will get them all.’
‘Nope but I think we can hurt them enough to make them leave.’
I slid back into the onslaught of rain and bullets. I would see a muzzle flash (by now my hearing was pretty gone, even with ear plugs. I say again 50s are LOUD) and I would pepper that area. I hoped Jake and Albert stayed to my right as planned and took opportunity shots. I saw a few men fall to the street ahead of me, one exploding into flames and I knew they were on the job. Thank God for snipers. We ‘walked’ up the street until we were within spitting distance of the dead head brigade and turned around. Either we got all the bandits or they had had enough for today. Michael was on the radio on the ‘all’ channel calling the bandits out with taunts and insults. Either they weren’t there or they weren’t listening. I even learned a few crude remarks by the time he was done. I finally slid down and closed the hatch us as we literally spun around on the slick street and went to pick up Jake and Albert.
So here we are back at home base. I think I caught a cold, we brought home 3 new people, we can flush our toilets again, the fires seem to be either out or aren’t spreading, we bloodied the nose of the local bandit population, and we know Zak prefers the indoors. Not a bad day all in all. I even get to ride John about taking the ‘gravy train’ to the water treatment plant and not pulling his weight. And I get to listen to 3 people tell me how foolish I was to be out in my condition. I am taking more pain killers. See you all later.
Over.
****
For those of you interested in finding out about the M113, I found this on a YouTube server;
M113 Video
It’s long but shows what this tough little vehicle can do.
If you see one with a large American Flag painted on all sides, it just might be me.
Or it may not, just be careful out there.
Back Draft
Well it was another interesting day. You know the Chinese have/had a curse, it said; ‘May you lead an interesting life.’
Boy, am I cursed, it seems. Although we did accomplish a fair amount of goals today and gained some ground on the bandits. And it was my idea, so revenge was mine in a way. Ignore me if I get over excited or rant a little, I am back on the pain meds as I tore my leg up again and had to be re-stitched.
John and J.T. (new daddy and all) went with the other APC to the water treatment plant. I felt bad for Maria; she had to be with those two cooped up in the APC all that time. More on them later.
So we rolled out to a fire station. Not the fire station we mentioned on the radio that was part of my plan. I feel like I am in the A-Team, I love it when a plan comes together. The bad part was it took us nearly an HOUR to figure out how to use the damn fire truck. What a sorry bunch we were, not one of us were firemen or even volunteers at the Depot. Closest thing we had was Kelly, who once helped the military run a water truck in Iraq. He knew at least what all the valves and things meant. It took some trial and error to figure out how to hook up the hoses, etc. During that time we pulled the APC into the next bay over and pulled the doors down. We did (well they did, I sat on my ass and watched from the top) have to clean out the station of a few Zak, stealth like, with axes and crowbars. We had Jake up on the roof looking around with Albert, who he was teaching the sniper craft to when he had time. By the time Kelly was ready with the fire truck and the other men who volunteered to help with the fires were comfortable enough on how to direct the hoses we had been out about two hours.
We received a call from Maria telling us the water treatment plant was secured and back working. Apparently debris got in one of the separators (big paddle like things in the tanks) and caused the system to shut down. They cleared it and had the pumps running now. It would be another hour before pressure came up if they were reading the dials over there correctly. Luckily someone locked up when they left the plant and no dead heads were there to greet them and no bandits either. They had an easy time of it so far. Which made me feel a bit uneasy.
The Major was going to come with us but we all vetoed that idea; we needed someone at the base in case bandits struck while we were out. Besides, he was a leader amongst us, the rest of us were expendable, even though we didn’t like to think that way. The walkie-talkies we recently liberated from radio shack had programmable channels, Watson, our resident electronics guru, figured out how to transmit on all frequencies on the radio and made two channels on half frequencies. We figured if the bandits were listening in, we needed something they could not listen to. Our Depot came poorly stocked with military grade hand held communications, so we improvised as best we could. The half frequencies would be hard to hear or even find if you did not know what you were doing and we were banking we did not have a mastermind in with the bandits. We hoped at least. So Jake radioed to us on channel 13.5 (my idea), and told us the fire was stalled in several spots as the wind was being turned in circles by some of the buildings (good news) but he said he saw movement three blocks over and it was too quick, he hoped, to be Zak. (bad news)
So we geared up for a battle.
I was making sure the .50 caliber machine gun’s belted ammunition was loaded correctly when Jake radioed again saying what he saw was probably not bandits. We all stopped when we heard this and waited. He then came back over the air saying what they saw were two women and a man, only one of the women appeared armed, were checking doors making their way this way. Jake thought they were survivors out looking for food or shelter. There was a drag of about a dozen zombies slowly trailing them. We did a quick vote. Unanimous we would see if we could offer them help. Yes, I know, could be a trap, but how bad can my luck be? The trio was half a block away from us when Kelly went out the side door and yelled to them from the sidewalk. They all froze, the woman with the gun brought it to bear on Kelly, but I knew by now Jake had him covered. Kelley told them to come on and get inside. They didn’t move. He told them to look behind them. They did, then they started running toward the fire house. We got them inside and buttoned up the place long before the dead heads got here. By that time though, Albert and Jake, both using heavily modified and silenced L92 rifles had thinned the herd somewhat. But we all knew, once one Z saw you every Z in a ten block radius would come to check out what the commotion was about.
This might give us away more than loud gunfire and we still had some fires to knock down.
The rest of the guys downstairs went through the side door and went hand to hand with the zombies. Over in less than a minute. It was one on one and Zak never had a chance. I watched our new ‘friends’ from the top of the APC and from behind the 50. I asked them nicely to put their weapons down and the trio did so without hesitation. The rifle, if you can call it that, was an old .22 caliber lever action, the other two had butcher knives. Wow. They were tough if that was all they needed. Boy I hope I wasn’t being suckered. They were all really dirty and their clothes were torn in a lot places. They also had a lot of scratches on their faces and bodies showing where the torn clothing was. The tallest, a girl, because if she was a day she was maybe sixteen and was probably pretty at one time, her long blond hair tangled and matted. The next tallest was the man, probably a little younger than me, in his thirties (always hard to tell age after things such as starvation and hygiene start to play a part in your looks) curly black hair and eyes like those of a frightened animal. The shortest was a woman to be about near her fifties. She had brown hair shot through with streaks of white. She eyed me like I was her enemy and she didn’t trust me. I liked her already.
‘So, who are you and where are you from?’ by now everyone was filing back into the bay with us and gathered around cleaning the gore off their various weapons.
‘My name is Janet, I from here,’ the woman spoke, I knew she would, she also nearly spat out the words, ‘this is Fred and Lucy. They’re from Lancaster. I found them hiding in a church on Main Street, but the fire made us move. We did find some food there thankfully.
Now who are YOU?’
I stared at her for a moment, no one said anything. Then I laughed. I liked Janet a lot.
I gave her the short version. She nodded, and Kelly gave them some water and some of those dreadful energy bars we always pack. Fred sat on the floor by the Fire trucks bumper and never looked up. Lucy sat on the bumper and watched everyone. Janet continued to stand as we got our stories straight. She is or was an administrator at the now defunct hospital; she was on vacation when everything started to break down. She just got home the day everything went to Hell. She bunkered down in her house as the news said, saying that was her first mistake listening to the government, and eventually had to get out because of the fires. She saw the newly dead walking around from here basement windows and then heard people talking during the night. This gave us an idea where the bandits were hiding out, well at least the ones starting the fires we hoped.
Lucy and Fred were neighbors in Lancaster. Lucy’s parents were dead, Zak got into their house and Lucy climbed out an upstairs window and made it to Fred’s house.
(I was amazed how many people could be alive still and in hiding, which gave me another idea, for later) They then took Fred’s car and drove to here and just outside of town the car quit on them. I asked them why they didn’t stay in Lancaster, but apparently the living to dead ratio was much more in favor of the dead there. The only road close and clear was to here. They made the mile and half hike from his car to the church on foot. Their only defense was the 22 rifle Lucy was carrying. At this point I was pretty sure Fred would not be much use to us, at least not now. He looked to be a walking comatose victim. Shock, will do that. Anyway Janet got to the church, which the other two had left unlocked, and when the fires got close, they all left, and here they were. Now what were going to do with them?
We gave them a some choices; Stay here and when we swing back through, if any of us made it back, they could hitch a ride with us, or they could try to make the few miles to the Depot on foot, but that was a risky idea at best. We told them about the bandits, who were more of a threat than the zombies at the moment, would likely shoot them if spotted. Janet looked at Fred and Lucy then back to me, ‘We’ll wait. Can you give us a gun or two just in case?’
I nodded and passed over my 9mm and the spare 4 magazines. Kelly gave Lucy his pistol and magazines. We thought it best Fred set in a corner and drool for a while without giving him a deadly weapon.
‘Know how to use that?’ I asked and before I was done Janet had the magazine out, racked the slide and checked the action. ‘I think I will manage.’ She said as she slammed the magazine back into the grip. She went to Lucy and showed her how to work her pistol. We got the three of them to the roof and told them to keep the room access door locked and to keep down. We would yell up or something when we came back. We left them then.
It looked like a twisted Shriner’s parade, a fire truck being lead by a slow military vehicle. With Janet’s info and where she lived we had a pretty good idea where the bandits would be at or would come at us from if they weren’t already waiting for us. The fire was almost out in the center of town where it had started and burned North East.The court hosue was gone, Burkes Bakery, a lot of good places lost. I am just glad a lot of people are dead and weren’t able to witness it. So far the Library was safe but that is where we decided to start. Jake and Albert jumped out of the APC and went into the library, their job was to make it up on the roof for observation and high cover. Kelly pulled the fire truck as close as he could to a burning building and our untrained crew went to work. The APC was parked backwards toward the fire, so I had a clear view of three streets that the 50 could bark down if it needed to. Apparently even Zak is afraid of fire, because here we were out in the open but they stayed a good block from any of the fires. Once in a while one would shamble out of a building on fire and catch some of his buddies on fire and it would spread out again. This is probably how the fires are working so fast. Jake was putting down the burning zombies before they could spread after we watched this first ‘wild fire’. His gun not being able to be heard over the pump engines in the fire truck. It took an hour to put out the trees and empty property near us, and then another hour to dampen the surrounding area near the library to keep it safe. At this rate it would take days to stop the fires.
Kelly knew this and called a quick huddle near the APC.
‘Guys this is never going to work. It would take several fire departments, trained fire departments to stop all this fire, we need to pick and choose what we are going to do.’ We all nodded. To the North it got more open and then the cemetery, which would act as a natural fire block. To the east, it would burn until it hit the more suburban areas, and that would burn for a while. Hard choices, but there was nothing in that area we knew we needed and we just didn’t have the men. We were getting ready to pack it in and head East two blocks when the sky opened up.
With a shout everyone looked up, letting the rain pour onto their faces. It came down hard. Like a freaking hammer, hard. The fires were going out. Our luck seemed to be turning in our favor for once. Oh how wrong I was.
Boy, am I cursed, it seems. Although we did accomplish a fair amount of goals today and gained some ground on the bandits. And it was my idea, so revenge was mine in a way. Ignore me if I get over excited or rant a little, I am back on the pain meds as I tore my leg up again and had to be re-stitched.
John and J.T. (new daddy and all) went with the other APC to the water treatment plant. I felt bad for Maria; she had to be with those two cooped up in the APC all that time. More on them later.
So we rolled out to a fire station. Not the fire station we mentioned on the radio that was part of my plan. I feel like I am in the A-Team, I love it when a plan comes together. The bad part was it took us nearly an HOUR to figure out how to use the damn fire truck. What a sorry bunch we were, not one of us were firemen or even volunteers at the Depot. Closest thing we had was Kelly, who once helped the military run a water truck in Iraq. He knew at least what all the valves and things meant. It took some trial and error to figure out how to hook up the hoses, etc. During that time we pulled the APC into the next bay over and pulled the doors down. We did (well they did, I sat on my ass and watched from the top) have to clean out the station of a few Zak, stealth like, with axes and crowbars. We had Jake up on the roof looking around with Albert, who he was teaching the sniper craft to when he had time. By the time Kelly was ready with the fire truck and the other men who volunteered to help with the fires were comfortable enough on how to direct the hoses we had been out about two hours.
We received a call from Maria telling us the water treatment plant was secured and back working. Apparently debris got in one of the separators (big paddle like things in the tanks) and caused the system to shut down. They cleared it and had the pumps running now. It would be another hour before pressure came up if they were reading the dials over there correctly. Luckily someone locked up when they left the plant and no dead heads were there to greet them and no bandits either. They had an easy time of it so far. Which made me feel a bit uneasy.
The Major was going to come with us but we all vetoed that idea; we needed someone at the base in case bandits struck while we were out. Besides, he was a leader amongst us, the rest of us were expendable, even though we didn’t like to think that way. The walkie-talkies we recently liberated from radio shack had programmable channels, Watson, our resident electronics guru, figured out how to transmit on all frequencies on the radio and made two channels on half frequencies. We figured if the bandits were listening in, we needed something they could not listen to. Our Depot came poorly stocked with military grade hand held communications, so we improvised as best we could. The half frequencies would be hard to hear or even find if you did not know what you were doing and we were banking we did not have a mastermind in with the bandits. We hoped at least. So Jake radioed to us on channel 13.5 (my idea), and told us the fire was stalled in several spots as the wind was being turned in circles by some of the buildings (good news) but he said he saw movement three blocks over and it was too quick, he hoped, to be Zak. (bad news)
So we geared up for a battle.
I was making sure the .50 caliber machine gun’s belted ammunition was loaded correctly when Jake radioed again saying what he saw was probably not bandits. We all stopped when we heard this and waited. He then came back over the air saying what they saw were two women and a man, only one of the women appeared armed, were checking doors making their way this way. Jake thought they were survivors out looking for food or shelter. There was a drag of about a dozen zombies slowly trailing them. We did a quick vote. Unanimous we would see if we could offer them help. Yes, I know, could be a trap, but how bad can my luck be? The trio was half a block away from us when Kelly went out the side door and yelled to them from the sidewalk. They all froze, the woman with the gun brought it to bear on Kelly, but I knew by now Jake had him covered. Kelley told them to come on and get inside. They didn’t move. He told them to look behind them. They did, then they started running toward the fire house. We got them inside and buttoned up the place long before the dead heads got here. By that time though, Albert and Jake, both using heavily modified and silenced L92 rifles had thinned the herd somewhat. But we all knew, once one Z saw you every Z in a ten block radius would come to check out what the commotion was about.
This might give us away more than loud gunfire and we still had some fires to knock down.
The rest of the guys downstairs went through the side door and went hand to hand with the zombies. Over in less than a minute. It was one on one and Zak never had a chance. I watched our new ‘friends’ from the top of the APC and from behind the 50. I asked them nicely to put their weapons down and the trio did so without hesitation. The rifle, if you can call it that, was an old .22 caliber lever action, the other two had butcher knives. Wow. They were tough if that was all they needed. Boy I hope I wasn’t being suckered. They were all really dirty and their clothes were torn in a lot places. They also had a lot of scratches on their faces and bodies showing where the torn clothing was. The tallest, a girl, because if she was a day she was maybe sixteen and was probably pretty at one time, her long blond hair tangled and matted. The next tallest was the man, probably a little younger than me, in his thirties (always hard to tell age after things such as starvation and hygiene start to play a part in your looks) curly black hair and eyes like those of a frightened animal. The shortest was a woman to be about near her fifties. She had brown hair shot through with streaks of white. She eyed me like I was her enemy and she didn’t trust me. I liked her already.
‘So, who are you and where are you from?’ by now everyone was filing back into the bay with us and gathered around cleaning the gore off their various weapons.
‘My name is Janet, I from here,’ the woman spoke, I knew she would, she also nearly spat out the words, ‘this is Fred and Lucy. They’re from Lancaster. I found them hiding in a church on Main Street, but the fire made us move. We did find some food there thankfully.
Now who are YOU?’
I stared at her for a moment, no one said anything. Then I laughed. I liked Janet a lot.
I gave her the short version. She nodded, and Kelly gave them some water and some of those dreadful energy bars we always pack. Fred sat on the floor by the Fire trucks bumper and never looked up. Lucy sat on the bumper and watched everyone. Janet continued to stand as we got our stories straight. She is or was an administrator at the now defunct hospital; she was on vacation when everything started to break down. She just got home the day everything went to Hell. She bunkered down in her house as the news said, saying that was her first mistake listening to the government, and eventually had to get out because of the fires. She saw the newly dead walking around from here basement windows and then heard people talking during the night. This gave us an idea where the bandits were hiding out, well at least the ones starting the fires we hoped.
Lucy and Fred were neighbors in Lancaster. Lucy’s parents were dead, Zak got into their house and Lucy climbed out an upstairs window and made it to Fred’s house.
(I was amazed how many people could be alive still and in hiding, which gave me another idea, for later) They then took Fred’s car and drove to here and just outside of town the car quit on them. I asked them why they didn’t stay in Lancaster, but apparently the living to dead ratio was much more in favor of the dead there. The only road close and clear was to here. They made the mile and half hike from his car to the church on foot. Their only defense was the 22 rifle Lucy was carrying. At this point I was pretty sure Fred would not be much use to us, at least not now. He looked to be a walking comatose victim. Shock, will do that. Anyway Janet got to the church, which the other two had left unlocked, and when the fires got close, they all left, and here they were. Now what were going to do with them?
We gave them a some choices; Stay here and when we swing back through, if any of us made it back, they could hitch a ride with us, or they could try to make the few miles to the Depot on foot, but that was a risky idea at best. We told them about the bandits, who were more of a threat than the zombies at the moment, would likely shoot them if spotted. Janet looked at Fred and Lucy then back to me, ‘We’ll wait. Can you give us a gun or two just in case?’
I nodded and passed over my 9mm and the spare 4 magazines. Kelly gave Lucy his pistol and magazines. We thought it best Fred set in a corner and drool for a while without giving him a deadly weapon.
‘Know how to use that?’ I asked and before I was done Janet had the magazine out, racked the slide and checked the action. ‘I think I will manage.’ She said as she slammed the magazine back into the grip. She went to Lucy and showed her how to work her pistol. We got the three of them to the roof and told them to keep the room access door locked and to keep down. We would yell up or something when we came back. We left them then.
It looked like a twisted Shriner’s parade, a fire truck being lead by a slow military vehicle. With Janet’s info and where she lived we had a pretty good idea where the bandits would be at or would come at us from if they weren’t already waiting for us. The fire was almost out in the center of town where it had started and burned North East.The court hosue was gone, Burkes Bakery, a lot of good places lost. I am just glad a lot of people are dead and weren’t able to witness it. So far the Library was safe but that is where we decided to start. Jake and Albert jumped out of the APC and went into the library, their job was to make it up on the roof for observation and high cover. Kelly pulled the fire truck as close as he could to a burning building and our untrained crew went to work. The APC was parked backwards toward the fire, so I had a clear view of three streets that the 50 could bark down if it needed to. Apparently even Zak is afraid of fire, because here we were out in the open but they stayed a good block from any of the fires. Once in a while one would shamble out of a building on fire and catch some of his buddies on fire and it would spread out again. This is probably how the fires are working so fast. Jake was putting down the burning zombies before they could spread after we watched this first ‘wild fire’. His gun not being able to be heard over the pump engines in the fire truck. It took an hour to put out the trees and empty property near us, and then another hour to dampen the surrounding area near the library to keep it safe. At this rate it would take days to stop the fires.
Kelly knew this and called a quick huddle near the APC.
‘Guys this is never going to work. It would take several fire departments, trained fire departments to stop all this fire, we need to pick and choose what we are going to do.’ We all nodded. To the North it got more open and then the cemetery, which would act as a natural fire block. To the east, it would burn until it hit the more suburban areas, and that would burn for a while. Hard choices, but there was nothing in that area we knew we needed and we just didn’t have the men. We were getting ready to pack it in and head East two blocks when the sky opened up.
With a shout everyone looked up, letting the rain pour onto their faces. It came down hard. Like a freaking hammer, hard. The fires were going out. Our luck seemed to be turning in our favor for once. Oh how wrong I was.
I wanna be a fire truck when I grow up…
That’s what my cousin said one time when asked, ‘What are you going to be when you grow up?’
Short post as we get ready.
****
During the night the fire spread in some areas and went out in others. (Luck would have it, it rained overnight) but the wind is fierce today, putting out small blazes but making the fully established ones burn and move. People from the Depot decided to fight them, knowing in our hearts it was a trap, but if we did not, we may be out of any supplies later from the town. We took one of the APCs, (Sorry, was calling them an APV, I was wrong. APC, I stand corrected by a Guardsman that read a few of my posts.) these are in Army lingo an M113, A2 version I think he said, to run escort for the Fire Trucks we are stealing.
These APCs had seen the first Iraqi war, so they are pretty beat up.
Since the water pressure went down it is going to be fun stopping fires. Another group is taking the remaining APC out to the water treatment plant to see what they can do.
Hopefully we can stop any of the important stuff from burning. Against Katy’s and my wife, Odessa’s wishes I am going along. My leg is wrapped up tight, is stopped bleeding and the pain is manageable. I am going along for the ride to play sitting duck on the top running the .50 caliber machine gun if needed. I am a glorified navigator on this mission. I would drive but my leg won’t take it. God help me if I have to run. The only saving grace is it still has the front shield on the machine gun, the bad thing is the side and back armor is missing, so I will be hanging in the wind if it gets rough.
Wish us luck. Report back later (I hope)
Over.
Short post as we get ready.
****
During the night the fire spread in some areas and went out in others. (Luck would have it, it rained overnight) but the wind is fierce today, putting out small blazes but making the fully established ones burn and move. People from the Depot decided to fight them, knowing in our hearts it was a trap, but if we did not, we may be out of any supplies later from the town. We took one of the APCs, (Sorry, was calling them an APV, I was wrong. APC, I stand corrected by a Guardsman that read a few of my posts.) these are in Army lingo an M113, A2 version I think he said, to run escort for the Fire Trucks we are stealing.
These APCs had seen the first Iraqi war, so they are pretty beat up.
Since the water pressure went down it is going to be fun stopping fires. Another group is taking the remaining APC out to the water treatment plant to see what they can do.
Hopefully we can stop any of the important stuff from burning. Against Katy’s and my wife, Odessa’s wishes I am going along. My leg is wrapped up tight, is stopped bleeding and the pain is manageable. I am going along for the ride to play sitting duck on the top running the .50 caliber machine gun if needed. I am a glorified navigator on this mission. I would drive but my leg won’t take it. God help me if I have to run. The only saving grace is it still has the front shield on the machine gun, the bad thing is the side and back armor is missing, so I will be hanging in the wind if it gets rough.
Wish us luck. Report back later (I hope)
Over.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn
Short post as I come up from the pain killers. They say my leg will be fine as long as infection does not set in and to keep that from happening they are keeping me pretty zonked on the pain killers. So excuse the tangents and ramblings.
Good News/Bad News day.
Bad News.
*Fires were started in town over night. I got a feeling our bandit friends are trying to scare us.
*Jason is inconsolable and in shock because of his Dad’s death (Seth), Tommy is now going around looking for his grandfather everywhere.
*We lost another man, Jimmy (I did not know him well at all) on a supply raid. He got bit, went mad and got himself torn apart going hand to hand with a bunch of Zak.
*The water stopped working from the treatment plant, no flush toilets until we can figure out something.
*It’s cold today .
*I miss fast food (but I am losing weight).
Good News.
*One of the men rescued, after he came out of his shock is a doctor. Dr. Charles Barnes. He is making a list of stuff we need. We get to raid the hospital (yah!)
*J.T.’s wife had a healthy baby boy, 7pounds, 8 ounces, Jonathan. (They love the John name)
*Millie Jones had a healthy baby girl, 6 pounds, 2 ounces, Betsy.
*We received a radio contact form the Dix River Dam power station. A lot of the people that worked there got their families and fortified. However the bandits have been making their lives hell. The other coal fired plant is now out of operation; luckily at least locally we are still getting enough power now that most everyone is dead or ‘green’.
Hysterical News.
*We got chatter on Armed Forces Radio that the New Congress passed a bill into law stating that once you are dead your rights as an American are null and void. It will not be considered murder to kill a zombie.
(I know that’s a big load off of MY mind.)
Well I am getting sleepy again, I gotta go pass out.
Over.
Good News/Bad News day.
Bad News.
*Fires were started in town over night. I got a feeling our bandit friends are trying to scare us.
*Jason is inconsolable and in shock because of his Dad’s death (Seth), Tommy is now going around looking for his grandfather everywhere.
*We lost another man, Jimmy (I did not know him well at all) on a supply raid. He got bit, went mad and got himself torn apart going hand to hand with a bunch of Zak.
*The water stopped working from the treatment plant, no flush toilets until we can figure out something.
*It’s cold today .
*I miss fast food (but I am losing weight).
Good News.
*One of the men rescued, after he came out of his shock is a doctor. Dr. Charles Barnes. He is making a list of stuff we need. We get to raid the hospital (yah!)
*J.T.’s wife had a healthy baby boy, 7pounds, 8 ounces, Jonathan. (They love the John name)
*Millie Jones had a healthy baby girl, 6 pounds, 2 ounces, Betsy.
*We received a radio contact form the Dix River Dam power station. A lot of the people that worked there got their families and fortified. However the bandits have been making their lives hell. The other coal fired plant is now out of operation; luckily at least locally we are still getting enough power now that most everyone is dead or ‘green’.
Hysterical News.
*We got chatter on Armed Forces Radio that the New Congress passed a bill into law stating that once you are dead your rights as an American are null and void. It will not be considered murder to kill a zombie.
(I know that’s a big load off of MY mind.)
Well I am getting sleepy again, I gotta go pass out.
Over.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Looney Tunes
Report for 7 May 2010:
The mission was straightforward enough; Locate the people just outside of town holed up in a small community that was besieged by Zak. We took 2 Humvees and 2 6X6 trucks. 12 people in all, I, John, J.T. (John’s son the Marine), Jake, Maria, Albert, Gary, Dwight, Keith, David, Tom and Seth (Who’s grandson, Tommy was sick but only with pneumonia thankfully). The drive was a calm five miles into the rolling hills of central Kentucky. Farms dot the landscape and farm animals graze in the now tall grasses. Once in a while we would come across a few Z’s in the field or trying to cross the road. There’s a joke in there somewhere but I am too tired to find anything funny at this point in time. The community is a newer subdivision layout that used to be a large horse farm years ago, so it has new houses and several branch roads. By now we know there are either people still alive or freshly dead when we see Zak milling around a home or store, so we keep our eyes peeled for that.
I was given direction and John is my navigator, so I take the lead Humvee, the 6X6’s are lightly armored, they come next and then Maria is bringing up the rear with the other Humvee. We keep our radios on for each other and I also have the CB we installed in the truck on to listen. J.T. has been reaching up through the seats when not scouring the countryside.
‘Hello, is anyone listening to this channel? Over.’ J.T. would try this every few minutes. We were nearing the turnoff for the road we needed when the radio crackled to life.
‘Hello? Can anyone hear ussss….’signal failed then static, then came back on ‘We need help! We are on Rushton Road, just off airport road can anyone hear us?!?!’ The static started but not before you could hear something pounding in the background and then a gunshot. The signal went dead then.
‘Know where that is?’ I asked John.
‘Keep going, Airport road is up on the left a little further. Once we are on that it is just another mile if that on the right.’ I nodded and grabbed the radio mic with my right hand.
‘Listen up guys we just got an SOS on the CB. We are going to pick up the pace as they sound like they need some help, now.’ With that I pushed the truck up to 60, occasionally dodging an empty car, truck (again, who gets out of their car during this?) or a jay-walking zombie.
Airport road came up in about 3 minutes on the left and I slowed and used my signal so there would no missing my intentions. We made the turn onto a paved but rough road. We had to slow almost immediately as we saw two cars blocking the road ahead, one of which was burned off its’ wheels.
‘I don’t like this.’ J.T. said from the back. ‘Looks too much like Iraq.’ Bending to his experience, I asked.
‘So what do we do? Push through, go around or what?’
‘Normally there are either snipers, or a bomb in one of the vehicles. Here, this doesn’t make sense. The grass around the sides of the road looks passable and has tracks in it. I maybe just paranoid. ‘ He looked out the side windows, there were no close houses .
‘Paranoid is my middle name.’ I said as we stopped. I radioed to the rest to be on the lookout and to stay put. My first instinct was to ram the vehicles and go on through, but J.T. had more experience in this than I ever will so I waited.
‘Try to go around on the left, your natural instinct is to go around on the right, so if there is a trap it should be there.’ I nodded and wheeled the Humvee off the road to the left. The road dropped off a good foot and then leveled out quickly. The Humvee started to slid to the left and the I gunned it back toward the road, tires spinning. We heard a crash behind us and the 6X6 was lying on its driver side in a large hole in the grass. Apparently we just missed the edge or it did not open under us. I slammed to a stop as the other truck and Humvee swung wide and went around the downed truck. We looked around us and all to our left was the airfield and the right was a few houses, but no movement.
‘Dumb trap. Dumb us.’ I said as I got out with my rifle scanning the houses. J.T. jumped out the rear driver side door and swept pass me to check on the guys in the truck, Terry and Seth. Both were crawling out of the passenger side window when J.T. got to them. Still no movement. Maria took point in her Humvee and waited in front of the other 6X6.
‘Weird. No one here to greet us…’ John said from in the Humvee as he scanned the houses with his rifle. No birds were singing in the tall grass. Shit. Zak was nearby.
‘J.T. get them back here on the double!’ I yelled and got back in the Humvee grabbing the radio.
‘Maria, look for Zs. I got a feeling we are sitting near some.’
‘Aye, G. I see some at two o’clock. About 4 of them near a house. Wait. More coming. Count ten now.’
I looked up and to the right and saw the first one coming out of the tall grass, low and bent over like an animal. It moved FAST. Almost running. Loping like those cavemen you see in the movies.
‘I really don’t like this, man.’ John said as he watched the zombie lope toward the lead Humvee. A short crack and it went down, a spray of blood flying from its skull. One of Maria’s crew fired from her truck.
J.T., Tom and Seth jumped into the back of our truck as more of the things started out of the houses to our right. A few of them were fast but most were your garden variety Zak. We then moved out without firing on any more of them. The fast ones kept up for about a hundred yards then they slowed and looked confused then stumbled off the road back towards the houses.
‘What the Hell was that all about?’ J.T. said as he watched the last one turn and shamble away.
‘Maybe they are getting territorial. I’ve seen wild dogs do that on our farm.’ Tom mentioned as we drove along. Great. Just great. The road we needed was coming up on the right and we could tell which house the call came from. A two story house second from the corner, boarded up windows, and about, oh, I don’t know, sixty or so zombies surrounding it.
‘Not good.’ J.T. echoed our thoughts from the back.
‘You think?’ John replied.
‘What do we go, G?’ Maria’s voice came over the radio. I picked up the mic, ‘We’re here to extract any survivors and to do that we gotta clean the yard first. Keith, Dwight, get that 6X6 back far and shoot from the cab, do not come out unless it’s clear or you have to. Everyone else, same thing, pick your targets, if they get close we will keep moving the Humvees back until we erase them.’ I hoped this would work. I hate leading people. Too bad people followed me anyway. We started picking off the Zs and they didn’t notice us until we had wasted a good dozen. They then slowly turned in our direction and came at us in earnest. We kept firing until the last one dropped then we moved as close to the house as possible.
We yelled to the house for about a full minute before anyone answered from the upper windows. A middle aged man and a teen age girl, armed with a shotgun answered us back. There was five more people inside, three women and two men.
We were loading them all into the 6X6 when the first shot came in and killed David. Automatic weapons chattered from our left coming from the airfield. What is wrong with this world? Men and women were pouring out of one of the small buildings at the edge of the airfield firing on us. There must have been close to twenty of them. We fought back, but were just out gunned; they had at least two sniper rifles, hitting us too easily. We lost Dwight and Seth in the next few seconds. We did the only thing we could, we ran. I was getting into the Humvee when a burning pain like I never felt before knocked me to the ground. The pain was centered on my right leg, looking down I saw a hole in my right ankle. Bullets pounded and ricocheted around me as I dragged myself into the cab. I got the door shut as more rounds scarred and clouded the armored window. Maria’s Humvee and the other 6X6 had already turned around and passed me going back down the road, the bandits getting closer.
‘C’mon let’s get out of here!’ Jake yelled from the back next to J.T. (When he made to us and got in is beyond me) I stepped on the accelerator and nearly passed out from the pain. I watched in horror as blood pooled on the floor around my foot. I spun the Humvee around in a tight circle and was getting it back on the road when the truck caught fire.
The day was getting better by the second. I saw another Molotov cocktail, a bottle of flammable liquid with a burning rag stopper fly by us and smash on the grass near us. Flames spread out in a ring in the tall grass coming closer to the truck. I had the truck wide open and spinning all four tires when they finally got purchase on the road. We rocketed forward as more and more bullets chewed at us. Every once and a while a bullet would get through the armor (damn snipers) but most were just not powerful enough to penetrate. I was almost to the end of Airport road when the front tire blew out. We slewed sideways, left the road, hit the grass and skidded toward the main road. We were down below the road level when we met the main road (all the roads around here are banked for some reason, this thought came through my mind at this time) shot up the bank and flew across four lanes of highway, slid again and rolled down the other bank. I thought sure as we came to rest I would pass out. I was not so lucky.
J.T. pulled his dad, John out of the passenger side (HE had passed out from the impacts) and Jake was hauling my stunned ass out my door. Luckily we had made enough time on the bandits that the 6X6 came back for us and we all loaded in the back. It took J.T. and Jake to get me up into the bed of the large truck. As we pulled away I watched the Humvee burn in earnest as the diesel fuel poured onto the grass. We all huddled toward the floor as bullets spanged off the heavy trucks lower plates and tore through the upper canvas covered bed. The people we rescued had the haunted look of seeing too much and did not talk on the way back. The large truck trundled up to its top speed of 60 MPH and I think we stayed at that speed until we got close to our first hidden lookout station. When John found out which leg I was shot in he couldn’t stop laughing. Oh, he was sorry I was shot, but John handles things differently that the rest of us sometimes.
‘So how you gonna limp with both legs, Kemo Sabe?’
‘You know you are too funny for life, why don’t you jump out of the back of the truck. I don’t think even the zombies would want you.’ I gruffly answered. The pain came in nauseating waves all the way home. For once I wished I could pass out. Twice now we have been set upon by bandits. I am so sick of this shit. Once I am up again, there will be payback. Oh, this I guarantee. We were still making plans when we got back to base. We lost three good people and gained seven. We lost two vehicles that we cannot replace. This will end. Yes, I am making it personal.
Over (For now).
The mission was straightforward enough; Locate the people just outside of town holed up in a small community that was besieged by Zak. We took 2 Humvees and 2 6X6 trucks. 12 people in all, I, John, J.T. (John’s son the Marine), Jake, Maria, Albert, Gary, Dwight, Keith, David, Tom and Seth (Who’s grandson, Tommy was sick but only with pneumonia thankfully). The drive was a calm five miles into the rolling hills of central Kentucky. Farms dot the landscape and farm animals graze in the now tall grasses. Once in a while we would come across a few Z’s in the field or trying to cross the road. There’s a joke in there somewhere but I am too tired to find anything funny at this point in time. The community is a newer subdivision layout that used to be a large horse farm years ago, so it has new houses and several branch roads. By now we know there are either people still alive or freshly dead when we see Zak milling around a home or store, so we keep our eyes peeled for that.
I was given direction and John is my navigator, so I take the lead Humvee, the 6X6’s are lightly armored, they come next and then Maria is bringing up the rear with the other Humvee. We keep our radios on for each other and I also have the CB we installed in the truck on to listen. J.T. has been reaching up through the seats when not scouring the countryside.
‘Hello, is anyone listening to this channel? Over.’ J.T. would try this every few minutes. We were nearing the turnoff for the road we needed when the radio crackled to life.
‘Hello? Can anyone hear ussss….’signal failed then static, then came back on ‘We need help! We are on Rushton Road, just off airport road can anyone hear us?!?!’ The static started but not before you could hear something pounding in the background and then a gunshot. The signal went dead then.
‘Know where that is?’ I asked John.
‘Keep going, Airport road is up on the left a little further. Once we are on that it is just another mile if that on the right.’ I nodded and grabbed the radio mic with my right hand.
‘Listen up guys we just got an SOS on the CB. We are going to pick up the pace as they sound like they need some help, now.’ With that I pushed the truck up to 60, occasionally dodging an empty car, truck (again, who gets out of their car during this?) or a jay-walking zombie.
Airport road came up in about 3 minutes on the left and I slowed and used my signal so there would no missing my intentions. We made the turn onto a paved but rough road. We had to slow almost immediately as we saw two cars blocking the road ahead, one of which was burned off its’ wheels.
‘I don’t like this.’ J.T. said from the back. ‘Looks too much like Iraq.’ Bending to his experience, I asked.
‘So what do we do? Push through, go around or what?’
‘Normally there are either snipers, or a bomb in one of the vehicles. Here, this doesn’t make sense. The grass around the sides of the road looks passable and has tracks in it. I maybe just paranoid. ‘ He looked out the side windows, there were no close houses .
‘Paranoid is my middle name.’ I said as we stopped. I radioed to the rest to be on the lookout and to stay put. My first instinct was to ram the vehicles and go on through, but J.T. had more experience in this than I ever will so I waited.
‘Try to go around on the left, your natural instinct is to go around on the right, so if there is a trap it should be there.’ I nodded and wheeled the Humvee off the road to the left. The road dropped off a good foot and then leveled out quickly. The Humvee started to slid to the left and the I gunned it back toward the road, tires spinning. We heard a crash behind us and the 6X6 was lying on its driver side in a large hole in the grass. Apparently we just missed the edge or it did not open under us. I slammed to a stop as the other truck and Humvee swung wide and went around the downed truck. We looked around us and all to our left was the airfield and the right was a few houses, but no movement.
‘Dumb trap. Dumb us.’ I said as I got out with my rifle scanning the houses. J.T. jumped out the rear driver side door and swept pass me to check on the guys in the truck, Terry and Seth. Both were crawling out of the passenger side window when J.T. got to them. Still no movement. Maria took point in her Humvee and waited in front of the other 6X6.
‘Weird. No one here to greet us…’ John said from in the Humvee as he scanned the houses with his rifle. No birds were singing in the tall grass. Shit. Zak was nearby.
‘J.T. get them back here on the double!’ I yelled and got back in the Humvee grabbing the radio.
‘Maria, look for Zs. I got a feeling we are sitting near some.’
‘Aye, G. I see some at two o’clock. About 4 of them near a house. Wait. More coming. Count ten now.’
I looked up and to the right and saw the first one coming out of the tall grass, low and bent over like an animal. It moved FAST. Almost running. Loping like those cavemen you see in the movies.
‘I really don’t like this, man.’ John said as he watched the zombie lope toward the lead Humvee. A short crack and it went down, a spray of blood flying from its skull. One of Maria’s crew fired from her truck.
J.T., Tom and Seth jumped into the back of our truck as more of the things started out of the houses to our right. A few of them were fast but most were your garden variety Zak. We then moved out without firing on any more of them. The fast ones kept up for about a hundred yards then they slowed and looked confused then stumbled off the road back towards the houses.
‘What the Hell was that all about?’ J.T. said as he watched the last one turn and shamble away.
‘Maybe they are getting territorial. I’ve seen wild dogs do that on our farm.’ Tom mentioned as we drove along. Great. Just great. The road we needed was coming up on the right and we could tell which house the call came from. A two story house second from the corner, boarded up windows, and about, oh, I don’t know, sixty or so zombies surrounding it.
‘Not good.’ J.T. echoed our thoughts from the back.
‘You think?’ John replied.
‘What do we go, G?’ Maria’s voice came over the radio. I picked up the mic, ‘We’re here to extract any survivors and to do that we gotta clean the yard first. Keith, Dwight, get that 6X6 back far and shoot from the cab, do not come out unless it’s clear or you have to. Everyone else, same thing, pick your targets, if they get close we will keep moving the Humvees back until we erase them.’ I hoped this would work. I hate leading people. Too bad people followed me anyway. We started picking off the Zs and they didn’t notice us until we had wasted a good dozen. They then slowly turned in our direction and came at us in earnest. We kept firing until the last one dropped then we moved as close to the house as possible.
We yelled to the house for about a full minute before anyone answered from the upper windows. A middle aged man and a teen age girl, armed with a shotgun answered us back. There was five more people inside, three women and two men.
We were loading them all into the 6X6 when the first shot came in and killed David. Automatic weapons chattered from our left coming from the airfield. What is wrong with this world? Men and women were pouring out of one of the small buildings at the edge of the airfield firing on us. There must have been close to twenty of them. We fought back, but were just out gunned; they had at least two sniper rifles, hitting us too easily. We lost Dwight and Seth in the next few seconds. We did the only thing we could, we ran. I was getting into the Humvee when a burning pain like I never felt before knocked me to the ground. The pain was centered on my right leg, looking down I saw a hole in my right ankle. Bullets pounded and ricocheted around me as I dragged myself into the cab. I got the door shut as more rounds scarred and clouded the armored window. Maria’s Humvee and the other 6X6 had already turned around and passed me going back down the road, the bandits getting closer.
‘C’mon let’s get out of here!’ Jake yelled from the back next to J.T. (When he made to us and got in is beyond me) I stepped on the accelerator and nearly passed out from the pain. I watched in horror as blood pooled on the floor around my foot. I spun the Humvee around in a tight circle and was getting it back on the road when the truck caught fire.
The day was getting better by the second. I saw another Molotov cocktail, a bottle of flammable liquid with a burning rag stopper fly by us and smash on the grass near us. Flames spread out in a ring in the tall grass coming closer to the truck. I had the truck wide open and spinning all four tires when they finally got purchase on the road. We rocketed forward as more and more bullets chewed at us. Every once and a while a bullet would get through the armor (damn snipers) but most were just not powerful enough to penetrate. I was almost to the end of Airport road when the front tire blew out. We slewed sideways, left the road, hit the grass and skidded toward the main road. We were down below the road level when we met the main road (all the roads around here are banked for some reason, this thought came through my mind at this time) shot up the bank and flew across four lanes of highway, slid again and rolled down the other bank. I thought sure as we came to rest I would pass out. I was not so lucky.
J.T. pulled his dad, John out of the passenger side (HE had passed out from the impacts) and Jake was hauling my stunned ass out my door. Luckily we had made enough time on the bandits that the 6X6 came back for us and we all loaded in the back. It took J.T. and Jake to get me up into the bed of the large truck. As we pulled away I watched the Humvee burn in earnest as the diesel fuel poured onto the grass. We all huddled toward the floor as bullets spanged off the heavy trucks lower plates and tore through the upper canvas covered bed. The people we rescued had the haunted look of seeing too much and did not talk on the way back. The large truck trundled up to its top speed of 60 MPH and I think we stayed at that speed until we got close to our first hidden lookout station. When John found out which leg I was shot in he couldn’t stop laughing. Oh, he was sorry I was shot, but John handles things differently that the rest of us sometimes.
‘So how you gonna limp with both legs, Kemo Sabe?’
‘You know you are too funny for life, why don’t you jump out of the back of the truck. I don’t think even the zombies would want you.’ I gruffly answered. The pain came in nauseating waves all the way home. For once I wished I could pass out. Twice now we have been set upon by bandits. I am so sick of this shit. Once I am up again, there will be payback. Oh, this I guarantee. We were still making plans when we got back to base. We lost three good people and gained seven. We lost two vehicles that we cannot replace. This will end. Yes, I am making it personal.
Over (For now).
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