doing flips. I undo the front clasps and lay the right vest front out on the floor, grab hold of the left side, and pull. The body rolls over to the right as I lift and pull. The head stays in place for most of the way and then starts following the body before bending backward with the back of the head almost touching the back. The body flips over and the vest comes free, the head flips forward and comes to a rest looking over the left shoulder. I scramble out and upend my breakfast behind the booth.
“Alright, fuck it,” I address the group coming back around to the front. All heads turn from loading the last of the gear. “Robert, go get the Humvee on the right. If you can manage to get it over here without hitting a building, running over any of us, or hitting any wildlife, you can drive it to the flight line.”
“Yeah!” Robert says with his eyes lighting up and he starts fast walking over to get it.
“Wait,” I say before he gets very far. “Come here. I’ll show you how to start it.” I see some confusion in his eyes trying to judge whether I am joking or not. “It’s a diesel and they start differently.”
Throwing the vest onto the passenger seat, I show him the start switch and light, explaining to him that diesels don’t have spark plugs but glow plugs and they need to heat up. “The orange light here tells you when the plug is warm and you can crank it,” I tell him finishing with the mini diesel lesson.
He walks behind the booths and disappears. I hear an engine crank up a short time later and see the rear of the Humvee emerge from behind the checkpoint as he backs up slowly. He then turns down the lane to the visitor center, through the parking lot, and catches the lanes back by the bend in the road to where we are. I sigh heavily, part of it from that he didn’t hit anything, part of it knowing that my Jeep and I will soon part company, and another from thinking that some things are just ingrained in our mind. We are going to have to all start thinking outside some of the civilization we are apparently now leaving behind.
“You could have just driven over the curb there,” I say upon his return from his extended scenic road trip and nod to where I had driven over it earlier.
“Oh. Yeah, I guess I could have.”
I can tell there is a bit of glee in his eyes that he had just driven, and was going to drive, a Humvee. Some pride and some chest puffiness as well. I see he wants Michelle to be impressed.
We finish loading the gear. I drive the Jeep to the visitor center and park it in an empty parking spot. No, I didn’t go over any curbs. This is my Jeep after all. I make sure I have my cell phone, the battery powered charger for it, and look around to see if we have everything.
“See you later my friend,” I say softly patting the top of the dash. “I’ll be back.”
Climbing out, I grab the toolbox and put the keys in my zippered sleeve pocket. With the sun starting to warm the air, I start back to the checkpoint.
Back at the Humvees, I grab the 5.56mm magazines. “Here, you can help me load these,” I say handing each of them a magazine. Unloading the ammo can, I set it on the ground. “29 to a magazine and here’s how you do it.” They gather around and we load up the 8 magazines I found.
“Ok, let’s move out. We have a lot to do and the day is moving on. I doubt we’ll be able to get out of here today. Bri, I want…”
“Why aren’t we leaving today?” Robert interrupts.
“A couple of reasons. First, we need to plan our legs around flying and arriving during the day if at all possible. That way, we can fuel up when we get to our destination. Secondly, I want the flight to be during the day in case we have a problem and have to land. I’m not certain any airport lighting or nav aids are working so I need to be able to find the airport and land in daylight. Plus, we have to flight plan yet and I have to learn the new aircraft so I’ll have to go through the manuals and checklists, if we can find them, and take it up for a spin to get used to flying it,” I explain.
“Now, if Robert is done interrupting, Bri and Nic, you are with me. Robert and Michelle, you take the second Humvee. Follow a little behind. If we meet anyone and have to stop, you park a short distance away. Be ready to turn around and get the hell out of here if anything goes wrong. Ready?”
They all nod and we board the Humvees. Nicole is in front with me and Bri is in the back seat. We start up and head around the checkpoint. Passing by the other parked Humvees, I do my best to maneuver through the piles of bodies but unable to avoid all them, we ride over some like driving over a speed bump; only, these speed bumps have a little give to them. The bodies eventually decrease in number the farther away from the checkpoint we get until I can maneuver without running over any more “speed bumps.”
I continue driving slowly further into the base and toward the morning sun with Robert about twenty five yards behind. We pass by a golf course to our left and buildings begin to appear on either side of us. I am constantly looking around for any sign of life but am only met by the occasional bird crossing the road ahead of us or riding the air currents above us. It’s like driving through a ghost town. There are no cars on the streets or people walking the sidewalks. No one is standing outside a building taking a smoke break or running errands. The building windows stare back as if in a surrealistic dream. I take a left onto another major road knowing the flight line lies to the north end of the base. Buildings continue along the road with their large brown signs outside denoting what unit or service they housed. A three story building appears to our left, set back from the road with a large parking lot and open fields surrounding it. The signpost outside reads “McChordAFBHospital.”
I pull to a stop at the road entrance staring at the structure. There are several cars in the parking lot, more than I have seen at any of the buildings. That’s to be expected though and keeps with the general trend I noticed on the way up and the assumptions I made.
“What are you doing, Dad?” Bri asks from the back seat.
“Thinking.”
I want to go inside and check things out for a couple of reasons. The first is there are medical supplies we could use in there and the second is that I figure if anyone has some idea of what happened or some information on these things, it would be a military hospital.
Pulling around to the emergency entrance on the south side, I park a short distance from the doors. The first four rows of parking places are filled with cars and trucks as was the parking lot of the main entrance. Not as packed as the civilian hospitals, no traffic jams, but still busier than any of the other buildings. An ambulance is parked under the covered drop off by the entrance doors with its back doors open. I get out and head around to the back watching Robert and Michelle exit their vehicle and hear the doors shut from the other side of mine indicating Nicole and Bri have exited as well.
“What are we doing here?” Robert asks.
“Medical supplies and hopefully some info on what we’re dealing with,” I answer pulling the combat vest out, the dried blood almost blending in with the camouflage. Putting the vest on, I adjust the straps for a more comfortable fit. I slip magazines into pouches as Robert asks, “So, what’s our plan?”
“You all stay here. I’m going in alone.”
The amount of cars in the lots indicates that there are a few people inside; either alive, dead, or one of those transformed things. I don’t want to have to worry about them in a larger building like this.
“I’m not going in far and I won’t be long,” I say.
Finishing with the magazines, I duct tape the cylindrical flashlight to the left side of the M-4 as near to barrel alignment as I can and make a mental note that the center of the light is a couple of inches off to the left of where any bullet will strike. I test the light to assure myself of its brightness and put the tape roll on my left wrist again. Sliding a magazine into the lower receiver, I flip the bolt release and thumb the selector to ‘safe.’ I glance at my watch and note the time.
“Okay. It’s 09:10. If I’m not back by 10:00, head back to Grandma’s. Don’t come in after me. If someone does come by or you see someone, try to hide as best as you can but do not, under any circumstances, draw any weapons. If they see you, do what they say and tell them the truth. Don’t go making anything up. If you tell them I’m inside, they’ll wait here until I come out so we won’t be separated. Questions?”
