You would have thought I hated the job but in fact I loved it. Being with the animals out in the fresh air. Hours turned into days.
I closed my eyes and for a while it seemed as though the world was as it should be, the sun was shining, I could hear people talking quietly as they worked. The children’s laughter as they completed their daily exercises as part of their lessons plan.
“George?” Lt Jacks was stood at the gates of the chicken coop that I was cleaning out.
“Yep?” I shielded the sun from my eyes.
“I need you in the captain’s office asap” he turned and walked away briskly without waiting for me to reply.
I placed the shovel that I was leaning on just inside of the barn on my way passed and quickly followed Jacks indoors.
This time myself, Jacks and Adam were in the room along with two other men, Will was missing from the room. Rochelle was missing from reception.
“Thank you all for joining me. George, Adam, this is Hardacre and Rich. Both are volunteers like you who have joined our ranks.” I was going to voice a greeting but Jacks kept talking so I just gave a short wave which was returned by both.
“Now, long story short, something has gone wrong with the mission that the captain left on two days ago. We received part of a distress call but before we could get a location it cut out.” Jacks looked distraught, but remained calm.
I plan to take two teams of men out with me this time in case the first team need help. My men are currently loading up the trucks with weapons and extra fuel. We will be taking Benjamin from the hospital area with us also in case our friends need medical assistance. I would like you to come with us. A few of our other guys will be staying behind to keep watch on this place. Can I count on all of you?” he placed two hands on the desk, and looked each of us in the eyes for a few moments.
“Yep I’m all in. Are they ok? Is Billy? when do we leave?” I asked trying to hide my excitement that I would finally get out from behind these fences. But anxious to find out if my friend was ok.
“What George said” Adam replied.
The other two men nodded but not as eagerly as Adam and me. I wondered if they had been out on the road for long or if they were taken straight in to camp number one or two and then moved here.
“Ok, as far as we know they were all ok. We couldn’t really tell from the short call that we got. Go get your back packs and then to the kitchen for supplies. Meet back here in fifteen minutes.”
Adam and I needed no more telling, we were up and out of our seats in a flash. Heading to our rooms as instructed. On a high, ready for our new mission.
Chapter 10
We left before the fifteen minutes were up, I had run to my room grabbed my backpack and threw in a change of clothes. Nia and Will were waiting on us to give us hugs. Amelia ran out of the doors before we were about to leave and flung herself at Adam.
“You be careful ok? If you get bitten or die out there I’ll kill you” she cried.
“I will, I promise” he kissed her quickly.
“Wish you were coming.” I hugged Will, then Nia. Squeezing her extra tight.
“Me too but I thought it better to stay here to keep an eye on Gary.”
“Yeah, I suppose id feel better knowing that you are here” my eyes flickered to Nia quickly but Will caught it. He gave a slight nod of his head that he would keep an extra eye on her.
Once all of our good bye’s and well wishes were done, we were off.
It was amazing being on the road again. Wide open fields, not another car on the road; well not ne that was moving nayway. There were plenty of cars around that had been abandoned. Some extremely bloody and messed up but I tried not to look too hard.
We were around three hours from camp and we’d not encountered any problems.
Our Jeep was first. John was driving, Lt. Jacks was sitting shotgun. Adam, and myself were in the back. Another, larger truck followed us with an extra four men in, including Ben the trainee doctor. We didn’t know exactly what had happened to the other camp and then to our men and had brought him along in case they needed medical care. Our communications had lost them quickly after their sos.
My stomach was rolling with both excitement and nerves, I had the whole bloody zoo inside my belly rather than just a few butterflies. I needed this sense of freedom, to get from behind that horrid fence. But I was also anxious about arriving at the other compound, I wondered if our men were ok. If they had even gotten to their destination and then a darker thought crossed my mind. What
