Winchester: Over (Winchester Undead) (23 page)

February 12
th

Groom Lake, Nevada

“Hey Sarge, our friends in Texas are back on the net,” the airman called out.

“I thought they weren’t supposed to be back on until tomorrow, did something go wrong?” Arcuni asked.

“No, I think they were excited to make contact again and get more
intel from us. You want to talk to them while I get Cliff?”

“Yeah,” said
Arcuni.

Arcuni
took the proffered mic from the airman and unplugged the headphones from the console so the transmissions could be heard over the external speaker. “Howdy Texans, you’re back early, is everything okay?”

“Howdy to you, Groom Lake, yes, we’re fine. The guy you spoke to a couple of days ago told us about the Dallas horde so we started making preparations. Do you have any updates on that?”

“I think we do, we sent for our officer in charge and he’ll have all the details for you, but for now I have to ask, where are you guys holed up at?”

Jessie looked at Bexar and silently shook her head no, but Bexar keyed the radio. “We’re in Big Bend.”

“Good country out there,” Arcuni replied. “Find any other survivors yet?”

“No, just us four and our two kids, but we’re prepared to help any other survivors with food and water if you send them our way.”

Fort Bliss, Texas

“Hey
Twardo, get over here, you’re not gonna believe this shit!”

Twardo
pushed the teenaged Mexican girl off his lap, zipped up his pants, and walked out of the hotel room to join Russell, the club’s sergeant-at-arms. “This better be fucking good, asshole, or I’m going to beat you until you piss yourself.”

“
Prez, I caught a conversation on the civilian radio channels—there’s a small group of survivors over in Big Bend National Park who say they’re well-supplied. There’s only four of them, and two kids.”

“Shit yeah, how far from here?”

“Probably nearly a two-day ride.”

“Put ten guys together to be ready to ride in the morning. The rest of the club will stay with the VP, the bitches, and the gear. Get a prospect to drive the van, and another to drive the truck to bring back what we can loot.”

Groom Lake

“Texas, my name is Cliff, and I was tasked by our government to help any survivors in any way I can,” came a new voice over the radio. “Is there anything you need?”

“Hi Cliff,” Bexar replied, “I’m Bexar. I didn’t know the government was still intact, how exactly could you help us?”

“To be honest with you Bexar, the government isn’t exactly intact. So far, we’ve found my group is one of the last remaining official representatives, but we’re trying to complete our mission of helping other survivors. If we can do that, maybe we can save our country for the future. We’re prepared to take other survivors here; we have food, water, and other provisions.”

“Where exactly is Groom Lake?”

“Nevada.”

“Nevada? Wait, Area 51? You’re shitting me!” Bexar said incredulously.

“Nope, I am one hundred percent serious,” Cliff replied, smiling.

Arcuni
opened the door to the commo-hut. Cliff slid his thumb off the push-to-talk button and said, “What’s up, Sergeant?”

“We’re not going to have another pass over that part of the country until 08:00 our time tomorrow, and then we’ll need to review the imagery and prepare a Sitrep for you.”

Cliff nodded and keyed the mic. “Bexar, we don’t have anything new for you as of right now, but we are updating our information and will have something for you by about noon your time tomorrow.”

“Uh, okay thanks,” replied Bexar. “I guess we’ll check back in at noon our time tomorrow.”

Emory Peak, Big Bend National Park

“That was strange,” Jessie said. “Why do you think it’s going to take so long?”

Bexar said, “I bet they’re trying to get a plane or a satellite overhead first.”

“Okay, but what are you going to do until tomorrow?”

“You.”

Two hours later, the sun was descending over the mountains as Bexar and Jessie woke up from their nap. Bexar started heating up dinner on a fuel tablet while Jessie began cranking the shortwave radio.

“…
no further communication has been received from the continent since the day before yesterday. As of now, the Crown is waiting and hoping that contact will be reestablished, and is extremely concerned for the rest of Europe. MI-6 has confirmed that most of central and eastern China experienced heavy fallout from the retaliation nuclear strike initiated by Russia and the United States against North Korea. Iran and most of the Middle East are also feared lost due to a nuclear strike thought to have been conducted by Israel. MI-6 has thus far been unable to confirm any previous attacks against Israel before their attack on their Muslim neighbors. There has been no contact with any North American officials since Z-Day plus-three. In other news, the Ministry of Health reminds all subjects to immediately report any persons displaying signs of infection, or any bite marks. King Harry has also sent notice to this station to remind all Britons to “Stay calm and carry on.” The empire will survive; it must survive, for we may be the only ones
…”

“Holy shit, Jess,
it’s like ‘On the Beach’!” Bexar exclaimed.

“Like what?” she said.

“The novel ‘On the Beach’ by Nevil Shute, where the last place on Earth to be killed off by nuclear fallout was Australia, and they were living large and loose trying to enjoy their last few months of life before the radiation killed them all too.”

“That sounds horrible. What did they do?”

“Mainly they drank all day and held dangerous car races where no one cared about safety. I think all we had in the U.S. were EMPs.”

“Can we get fallout from those?”

“I don’t think so.”

February 13
th

Groom Lake, Nevada

“Cliff, the SATINT is mostly complete,”
Arcuni reported.

“Any surprises?” Cliff replied.

“The Dallas herd has grown larger and is covering an incredible amount of distance in a short amount of time, but there are also some smaller groups splitting off from the herd.”

“Okay, where’s the main group now?” Cliff asked.

“About three hundred miles southwest of Dallas. The horde is still following I-20 west, but one of the larger factions that split off is moving south along I-35.”

“How far away are they from our Texas friends?”

“Assuming that they would have to deviate course to travel south from I-20, probably seven to ten days.”

“Any other survivors?”

“We picked up a group of people on motorcycles traveling east on I-10 about two hundred miles east of Fort Bliss.”

“Anything from Bliss?”

“No, nothing, except that there are a few buildings on fire, and fifty-three motorcycles parked next to a motel on the eastern side of the base. There are also people in the parking lot, but we haven’t been able to determine if they’re alive or reanimates.”

“How many riders are in the group traveling east, and any indication what their destination is?”

“Twenty-three riders, and we don’t have any indication of their destination, but they’re traveling in the general direction of the other survivors from Big Bend.”

“Should we tell our Texas friends about the motorcycles?”

“Not yet, they’re still well away from the Park, and we don’t even know if they’re headed there. Monitor the motorcycles’ progress and see if we can plot possible destinations. When’s the next KH overflight?”

“Tomorrow at 10:02 local time.”

Emory Peak, Big Bend National Park, Texas

Bexar was quite sure that he and Jessie hadn’t had this much sex since the romantic Alaskan cruise they had taken as a “let’s get pregnant” trip nearly three years ago. It was hard to believe that it had already been three years since before they were pregnant, or had their precious little girl. Condoms were in short supply in their provisions so Bexar was pulling out; he and Jessie weren’t sure they could bring another baby into this brave new world.

Jessie scanned the ham frequencies, but they were unable to make contact with anyone, and she couldn’t even find any evidence of other transmissions. It was over a month since the other two survivors in the area had been heard on the radio. Bexar wanted to believe that those two old cowboys were still surviving, and that there were other survivors out there to be found, but the endless static was beginning to erode his hope.

Jessie set the ham on the frequency they’d been using to communicate with their new friends in Area 51, and powered up the shortwave radio. Scanning through the known frequencies, Jessie suddenly heard a voice, and stopped the scan to listen.

“Listen Bexar,” she said, “it’s just a woman reading random numbers. That’s really creepy.”

“Those ‘number’ channels have been around for a while,” he said. “Some channels are random numbers, some channels will have random words, some letters, and some a combination of them. The conspiracy theory types on the
interwebs believe the channels are secret government communications to spies out in the field, although in this day and age that doesn’t seem likely, with the ability to communicate with the Internet.”

“So we don’t know who’s broadcasting them or who would be listening?”

“Nope, no one seems to know who or where with those channels. The conspiracy theories range from American spies to the Bilderberg group to alien bases under Denver International Airport, but that’s crazy. Who knows, hell, Cliff says he’s at Area 51.”

“Do you think he is?” Jessie asked.

“I don’t know. He could be, or he could be psychotic. I can’t imagine that the end of the world with the dead rising to hunt the living could be good for anyone’s mental health.”

Jessie looked at the sun nearing the middle of the sky overhead. “I think we have time for one more before we’re expected on the radio, if you’re up to it, lover boy.”

Bexar smiled and nodded, and Jessie pulled her blanket aside, revealing her naked body.

Groom Lake

“Okay Sarge, it should be about noon their time, I’ll get Mr. Cliff.” Arcuni nodded and the airman left the commo-hut. Arcuni pushed a frequency preset and the radio changed from a scanning mode to the frequency used thus far to communicate with the group in Texas.

Twenty minutes passed before Cliff opened the door to the
commo-hut with the airman in tow.

“Nothing yet, Cliff.”

Cliff nodded and sat down next to Arcuni, donning a headset for the radio. Nearly ten minutes later, the speakers crackled with Bexar’s distant voice, “Good afternoon secret alien base, are you on the net?”

Arcuni
looked at Cliff, who smiled and shrugged. “Roger that Texas folks, any updates in your status?”

“Nothing of note, but we are away from our base camp, up on one of the mountains to get reception for radio communication.”

“Copy that. We have some updates for you. The Dallas herd continues in a southwesterly direction, following the I-20; however, some smaller groups of undead have broken off from the herd. The largest of those is traveling south following the I-35.”

“Do you think either of those will affect us at our location?”

“We’re not sure yet, but we don’t think so. We will continue to track and keep you updated.”

“Thanks, Area 51. We picked up a BBC broadcast on the shortwave. It said that the British thought most of Europe was a total loss, followed by some discussion on nuclear fallout. Do you have any more information about that?”

Arcuni once again looked at Cliff, who shrugged. “We are just now getting up and running after pulling together some other survivors. We’ve been focused on the CONUS and will have to investigate further.”

Bexar shook his head at Jessie in disbelief, and keyed the radio again. “Also, Area 51, we picked up one of the old ‘numbers’ broadcasts on the shortwave, is that you guys?”

Cliff looked at Arcuni. “Shit, we need to get a shortwave in here to monitor that. If that’s not an automatic relay and they’re still up and broadcasting, we might have some problems.”

Arcuni
started to ask a question, but Cliff’s raised hand motioned him to be quiet as he keyed the radio microphone. “No Texas,” he replied, “that’s not us, it’s probably just an old recorded message on repeat. Can you contact us again tomorrow at noon your time?”

“That’s affirmative, Area-51, contact you noon our time.
Texas out.”