A New World: Chaos (39 page)

Rolling the thing on its back once more, they bind its hands and ankles.
 
“Get him outside,” she says as they finish up.

“Clear a path!”
 
She yells to the group at the entrance and the entrance room beyond.

Lynn
follows behind as they carry the body, two grabbing under the arms and another at the feet.
 
She can hear several muted gasps as others see the body for the first time.
 
They carry it outside.

“Set him there,” she says pointing to a spot of deeper sand just away from the building. “And find something to shade him with.”

Emerging from the shadow of the building, with the entire group in tow, they set the still unconscious body on the sand.
 
“What happened in there, Sergeant Connell?”
 
Major Bannerman asks once they are outside into the bright sun and fierce heat.

The question falls on seemingly deaf ears as Lynn and the rest are staring at the figure and the immediate transformation it seems to be going through.
 
The exposed skin of the face begins to redden, becoming like an instant sunburn.
 
The thing’s eyes pop open widely and it begins to howl and shriek, thrashing wildly, its back arching up as though in extreme pain.
 
The skin’s redness darkens even further, to the point where it seems like it should be smoking.
 
The ear-piercing shrieks continue almost non-stop, all of this happening within seconds.

“Get it inside!”
 
Lynn
yells above the shrieks and takes a step towards it to help.

Before her second step, the wild arching subsides and it falls limply to the ground as the shrieking abruptly ends.
 
She rapidly goes to her knees beside the limp form checking for a pulse but finds none.
 
The skin is extremely warm and dry to her touch.

“He’s dead,” she says, looking back over her shoulder at the group and Major Bannerman.

Standing, Lynn then answers Bannerman’s question and relates the events inside, giving more of an overview than a detailed description.
 
“Sir, may I speak?”
 
She asks after finishing her description.
 
Major Bannerman then leads her a little ways away from the group.

“Sir, I think we may be dealing with some kind of reaction to either the vaccination or the flu itself.
 
It appears that whatever it is makes them hostile attacking others.
 
And whatever transformation it is apparently makes them quite sensitive to light.
 
Or outside light at least,” she says pulling several facts together.
 
Those being that they seem to be active at night and that they found this one in a darkened room along with its reaction to the outside light.
 
“I think we should deal with them as hostiles until we know better.”

“Good idea, Sergeant,” Bannerman says, “We’ll draw weapons and hole up in the TOC until help arrives.”

“Sir, I’m not sure help is coming if this is associated with the vaccinations.
 
The whole world was inoculated or at least exposed to the virus.
 
And, I tried calling almost everyone back at Lewis along with several other installations.
 
No one answered.”

“What’s your suggestion then, Sergeant Connell?
 
How are we going to get out of here?”

“I would suggest we arm up, gather water and rations and hole up in the tower at the airfield.
 
It will have telephones along with radios to contact any aircraft still flying.
 
Plus, it’s easily defendable.
 
We have plenty of food and water here if things are truly a worst case scenario,”
Lynn
replies to his questions.
 
“If we can hold out here for perhaps five days and no help arrives, then we can load up vehicles with rations, fuel, and ammo and evaluate the best route and destination.”

“Very good, Sergeant.
 
That sounds good to me,” Bannerman says and turns back towards the group.

The very first thoughts of the surrealness of the situation begin to form in Lynn’s mind.
 
This may be similar to the very situations Jack, her, and a few others discussed as wild, ‘what if’ scenarios.
 
What would they do if a zombie invasion happened?
 
Is this really something global?
 
She thinks.
 
I hope Jack is okay.
 
Will he actually come pick me up as they discussed?
 
Too weird to think about but the tower is a logical place to go in any case.

Back at the group, who is mostly staring at the limp body lying in the sand, Major Bannerman addresses the group and details the plan they came up with.

“What about leaving now, sir?”
 
A voice sounds from somewhere in the group.

“It’s a deathtrap here, sir,” another sounds out.

“I think the best idea is to stay here until we get more info,” Bannerman says and turns to
Lynn
.
 
“Sergeant Connell, see to the weapon dispersal.”

“Yes, sir.
 
You four, with me,”
Lynn
says pointing out four enlisted, “We’re going to clear the armory and then same plan as before.”

After making sure the injured soldier is treated, Lynn and the four soldiers enter back into the armory.
 
She gathers them at the doors leading into the actual armory.
 
“Wedge formation. We’ll draw weapons at the first rack and then proceed to clear the room.
 
Heads on a swivel.
 
No firing if your line of sight isn’t clear; use the butt of your weapon,” Lynn says and details positions for the others; two in front with two on the sides putting herself in the middle to help out on either side.
 
“Everything clear?”

“Yes, Sergeant,” they answer and proceed inside.

The weapons inside stand in mute silence.
 
The detail detects no movement as they move warily to the first rack of M-16’s leaning in their racks; tense and with heads moving constantly.
 
They draw weapons and, although expecting something, no sounds or attacks greet them on their journey through the room.
 
All is silent.
 
They clear the room and proceed back to the door.

Lynn tells three of them to accompany each of the five that come in to get their weapon and one to remain with her at the doors.
 
She shoulders her weapon and picks the clipboard back up.
 
The unit then gathers their weapons in groups of five as
Lynn
keeps their annotations accurate.
 
Once all weapons are drawn, she details Drescoll to get the Humvees and other soldiers to carry ammo crates outside.

“Sir, I suggest we stop at the TOC and police up the intel.
 
We can then break into groups to police up other intel, gather rations and medical supplies, and other personal gear in the barracks,” Lynn says after crates of ammunition, NVG’s, and extra weapons are loaded into the vehicles once Sergeant Drescoll returns with them.

“Okay, Sergeant, see to it,” Bannerman responds.

Gathering the group around her,
Lynn
gives vehicle assignments, order of travel, and instructions to meet at the TOC, “And be sure to look out for stragglers.
 
We still don’t know what we’re dealing with here.
 
Report on the radio any sign of movement with location and numbers,” she adds and everyone disperses to their assigned vehicles.

They arrive at the TOC without further incident.
 
Exiting her vehicle,
Lynn
directs four Humvees to block the wide, sandy avenue in front and stand guard, locating two in each direction down the road facing outward several buildings down.
 
She then allocates a detail of soldiers led by Sergeant Drescoll and two Humvees to locate and gather water and food, setting their return for two hours hence.
 
Major Bannerman opts to leave with the detail party leaving Lynn in charge of the TOC operations.
 
The two detail Humvees head out leaving a trail of dust in the still air behind them, the sound of their engines fading as they head away from the TOC.

Meeting up again with the Specialist and Private she left at the TOC, Lynn assigns them and two additional soldiers to head inside and gather up the intel.
 
She then details Specialist Taylor, a communications specialist, to stay in one of the Humvees parked in front of the TOC to monitor the radios and keep in contact with the detail party.
 
She also tells the remaining soldiers to stand watch around the TOC before heading down to the road to one of the Humvee pairs to check on them.

Arriving at the Humvees with the heat of the day truly building up, she checks on them and talks with for a few moments.
 
Looking back toward the TOC, she notices several of the soldiers grouped around one of the Humvees and, oddly, Specialist Taylor standing away from the Humvee and his assignment with another small group.
 
Looking further up the road, she also notices that the two Humvees that were guarding the other end are nowhere in sight.

What the fuck
, she thinks turning back to the soldiers she is standing next to.
 
“You know anything about what’s going on?”
 
Lynn asks the group staring down the road with her, putting a quick picture together and suspecting the worst.

“No, Sergeant,” they reply in intervals without taking their eyes from the road; their responses coming from behind her.
 
Lynn strides back towards the TOC.

About half way there, she sees the one group pile into one of the Humvees and hears it start up.
 
Her stride becomes a run as the doors to the Humvee close.
 
Lynn arrives in front of the TOC with sweat dripping down her forehead, just as the Humvee begins to pull away.

“Soldier, stop that Humvee now!!!”
 
She yells directing her order to the driver and skidding to a halt.

The driver, now only yards away and with his elbow resting on the window frame of the door, sticks his head out of the window and looks back at her.
 
“Sorry, Sergeant,” he says and pulls his head back in as the Humvee picks up speed.

The three remaining soldiers, including Specialist Taylor, come up to her and kneel in the sandy road next to her, bringing their M-16’s to their shoulders and sight down on the Humvee, now rapidly growing smaller and the dust partially obscuring it.

Lynn reaches her palm out to the top of the weapon next to her and pushes the muzzle downward.

“Stand down,” she says and the remaining muzzles lower as the soldiers rise to their feet.

“Sorry, Sergeant Connell,” Taylor says as the Humvee ahead makes a left turn and disappears from view, “there wasn’t much we could do.”

“No worries,” she says still staring after the departed Humvee, “I suspected some would want to go but didn’t think they would do it this way.”

“Everyone okay?”
 
Lynn asks turning to look at the soldiers around her.

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“What about those inside?”
 
She asks.

“They’re still in there,”
Taylor
responds and then proceeds to relate the details.

He had been half sitting in the driver seat when he noticed the two Humvees down the road drive off.
 
Just as he climbed out of the Humvee, one of the soldiers came up behind him and told him they weren’t staying here but leaving with the other group, asking him if he wanted to go.
 
When he told them he was staying and that they were, in effect, conducting a mutiny, he was rather forcefully ‘asked’ to join the other two; the ‘asking’ being made by way of a drawn Beretta and him being on the wrong end.

Turning back toward the two Humvees she left guarding the other end of the avenue and seeing they were still there, she tells Taylor, “Get on the radio and have them report back here.”

Taylor
seats himself back in the remaining Humvee and the other two return a short time later.
 
The soldiers inside accomplish their mission and stand outside just as the vehicles arrive, coating
Lynn
and the small group in a small cloud of dust as they pull to a stop.