“Not the worst vacation I’ve ever been on,” Baker quipped.
“Oh yeah?” Short asked, raising an eyebrow. “Where was that?”
Baker sighed. “Cabo.”
The trio of newcomers stared at him curiously.
“Cabo?” Kent asked. “How in the hell do you fuck up Cabo?”
Mason shook his head. “He refuses to tell us,” he said. “Our best guess so far is that he got drunk, found a new friend, and brought back a souvenir that he didn’t intend to.”
“I keep telling you that’s not it,” Baker muttered, shaking his head.
Mason and Bretz both rolled their eyes.
“Nah, I’m with Mason,” Kent said, motioning to his new friend, “it’s definitely an unwanted souvenir.”
Baker scowled. “Don’t you start too,” he warned, “or I might have to come over and teach you some manners.”
“Is that what you said to your friend to start your evening to forget in Cabo?” Kent shot back.
“Naw, that’s what his date said to him,” Short added, smacking Kent in the shoulder. “Take a good look at him, don’t he look like the discipline loving type?”
The group, minus Baker, erupted into loud laughter, just as Kersey and David reached them.
“Good to see everyone is getting acquainted,” the Captain declared.
The three new recruits perked up to attention, while the other three just continued casually packing their gear.
Kersey waved his hand at the youngsters. “Please, guys,” he said, “it’s way too early in the damn morning for that. Keep getting ready.” Another yawn escaped his mouth, and he covered it with his fist. “Oh man, sorry.”
“You all right there, Cap?” Bretz asked, brow furrowing.
“Yeah, just,” Kersey replied, and took a sip of his coffee, “lots I gotta be awake for. Which is why I’m going to have my friend David here walk you through the mission.”
David’s eyes widened as all six soldiers turned to him, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. “Oh, okay,” he stammered, “just gonna jump on in.” He pulled out his maps, fumbling the papers a little. “Okay, here we go.” He spread out one of the immediate region, and one of a small town, on a nearby table. “Gentlemen, if you will please focus your attention on the small town map and we’ll get started. What you are looking at is the town of Redmond, a quaint little suburb to the northeast of downtown Seattle. While you can’t really tell from this crop, it is the first signs of civilization as you approach from the east.”
Baker raised his hand.
David tongued his cheek for a moment, hesitating as he tried to remember his name. “Yes… Baker?”
“Yeah,” the Private replied with a nod, lowering his hand. “When you say little, you wanna quantify that a bit more?”
David raised a hand, tilting it back and forth in the air. “Well, it’s little compared to some of the other suburbs,” he replied. “Pre-war, there were about seventy-five thousand people living there.”
“You and I have very different definitions of little,” Baker retorted.
The communications expert grimaced. “My apologies,” he said, putting a hand to his chest. “The good news is, you aren’t going to have to go very deep into Redmond to get what you’re looking for.” He pointed to a circled area on the southeast portion of town. There were several large white-roofed buildings making up a substantial shopping center. “According to our satellite imagery, the trucks you need to complete your mission are in this shopping center on the southeast portion of town. Now, the satellite imagery also shows a heavy zombie population, but you will be embedded with a moderate sized strike force who will be there clearing out the town.”
“How big?” Short asked, without raising his hand.
David glanced at him. “We’re sending a team of seven hundred and fifty to secure Redmond. A squad of a hundred will be tasked with escorting you to the site before rejoining the others. You are to get in, secure half a dozen trucks, and head out.” He slid over to the larger area map. “Now.” He took a deep breath. “This is where things get tricky.”
“Pretty sure it’s all tricky,” Kent quipped, “but go on.”
“With the trucks secure, you’ll be hopping on highway five twenty south,” David continued, “which will lead you to your destination. Unfortunately, it also means you have to go through the town of Overlake. It’s smaller than Redmond, but the last images we have show a significant presence of zombies on the road.”
“Can we go around them?” Mason asked.
David shook his head. “Wouldn’t recommend it,” he admitted. “A lot of the surface streets are covered in trees, but the areas where we can see the road appear to be crowded. You’re going to just have to push through.”
“And what are we supposed to do when those fuckers get wedged in the wheels?” Baker asked, throwing up his hands. “Or stall out the engine?”
Kent smirked. “You could always hitchhike.”
“Would you pick me up?” Baker scoffed.
Kent winked at him. “Not after hearing your Cabo story.”
Laughter rippled through the group again, and Bretz waved a hand to get them to settle down.
“The most difficult portion of this drive is up next,” David said, raising his voice a bit to get them to focus, “the four-o-five interchange. The good news is, you’ll be on the ground, so no risk of running off of a bridge. The bad news is, it’s most likely going to be densely packed.”
Mason leaned his hands on the table. “So, how are we supposed to get through there?” he asked.
“Air support,” David replied.
The soldiers glanced around at each other and nodded, impressed.
“Air support, huh?” Baker asked, rubbing his hands together. “What we got?”
“Two Apache gunships,” David replied. “They’ll need a thirty-minute window to arrive, so you’ll have to plan accordingly, but call them in and they’ll clear a path for you here.” He pointed to the stretch of road.
Baker raised his hand, and the communications expert reluctantly motioned to him.
“If we have Apaches,” the Private began, “then why are we risking our lives to go block these bridges? Why not just blow
