introduced Max to the sergeant on duty at the front of the car, before turning him around and moving him back to the cab on the engine.
“Getting to the flat bed is a little more difficult, there is a short jump and if you don't mind my saying you don't look too steady on your feet just walking along the engine. The train's engineer was explaining how to work the train to Stewart. The engineer had an assistant with him, both of whom had been unwillingly drafted to go as well. Stewart was taking the man seriously and taking notes on her cell phone. Looking backwards Max could just see Bill at the front of the car behind them, he had opted to sit in the forward gun emplacement on the tanker, two of his squad had been sent forward to crowd the engine. One of the men, Ruben, was following the instructions the engineer was giving Stewart with rapt attention. He was standing next to Max and said, “You know I always liked trains. You should see my basement, I have a whole setup down there. I haven't ran them in years, not since my grand kids were ten or twelve. It is just collecting dust now.”
“I used to like trains too.”
“Used to? This is something you don't get over. I love the things, even now, but I guess playing with them lost its appeal after no one else took interest. And here I am, on one again.”
“You from Perry?” asked Max.
The older man nodded.
“How long have you known Bill.”
“You mean before?” Max nodded, “Well I can't say I really did, I mean I saw him around at the Memorial day festival and once a 'Trees Forever' meeting, but we didn't chum around if that is what you are asking. You?”
“Since seventh grade. He was in eighth.”
“So twenty years or so then?”
Max nodded.
“Long time. I've known a few of these guys for longer than you've been alive. Dan and Larry there anyway.”
“Why'd you guys come?”
“Why'd you?”
“I can sense the zombies and kind of have a feel for the more powerful ones.”
“Truly?”
“Yeah, like they glow to me, the brighter they glow the stronger they are. So they want me to go after the big guy in Chicago, the one we think is making this whole mess happen in Iowa.”
“Huh, like superman or something out of the comic books. That is pretty…unbelievable.”
Max looked at him sharply, “They tested me.”
“I don't doubt they had to. What is your range?”
“Maybe a mile or so. I can see humans too, through walls and everything.”
“Only a mile? You know how big Chicago is?”
“They” Max pointed at Colonel Draper, “think they might have an idea of where the bad guy is, I just have to pin point him, then they are going to drop a ton of explosives on him. After that I make sure he is dead and we get the hell out.”
“I hope it works out like that.”
“You don't think it will?”
“You know, I may be old but I've seen war and the one thing that is always constant is that nothing goes exactly according to plan. What is your backup plan?”
Max's eyes opened slightly, “Well, really, I don't have one.”
Ruben laughed softly, “That sounds about right too. Don't worry though, I am sure our lieutenant has something up his sleeve. You see those badges on his chest?”
“Yeah.”
“They aren't for decoration. Or maybe they are, but they actually mean something. The man is special forces and the men he brought with him are too. That means they have a backup plan. If I were you though Max, I would be making a few plans of my own too, just in case.”
“Do you have any?”
“An old bird like me? Naw, I'll just trust in my L-T or Colonel as the case may be.”
This brought a loud laugh out of Max, drawing the attention of everyone in the cab. When he had settled down Ruben asked, “So, do you still want to know why we came?”
“No, I guess not.”
Max didn't know enough to question why a Colonel would be leading a short platoon of men into Chicago, behind him Ruben's eyes stared over Max's shoulder towards the front of the train.
Chapter 32
Katie slumped over and fell backwards to the floor, a second later Randy was at her side, “Shit, shit, Katie how bad is it? Katie?”
He frantically undid her camo suit and started pulling apart her flak jacket, his brain was ticking furiously, trying to plan what to do, how to help her. He was just getting to her shirt buttons when he realized something, there was no blood. Pulling back he had an epiphany; looking at her undone clothing he saw that she had been wearing her flak jacket, which was standard equipment. Pulling it over to the front he saw clearly where the bullet had impacted the protective plate at the front. The handgun round was embedded in the Kevlar cloth that held the plate in place. The jackets could not stop military rounds from rifles or machine guns, but they were pretty damn effective at stopping pistol bullets and ricochets.
Sighing with relief he gently slapped her on the cheeks, “Katie! Katie! You are alright! Your vest stopped the bullet, the blood is from the zombie, wake up, we gotta move out of here.”
She came around slowly and coughed, “What the hell? You shot me Randy!”
“The bullet burrowed out of the zombie, you got hit by it as a secondary target, it didn't even pierce your vest. C'mon, get up, we gotta get moving.”
“I need evacced. Call for a copter.” she mumbled as Randy pulled her vest back into place and re fastened the Velcro holding the camo suit together.
“Normally you would too, probably you'll have a bad bruise, but I doubt you have internal injuries, the bullet had already passed through someone before hitting you. That was like a 'wake up call', nothing to be too worried about, but kind of annoying.”
“Jesus, that is all the sympathy I get for you shooting me?”
“Fine.” He leaned over, ruffled her hair and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Better now?”
She looked at him and shook her head, but started to get to her feet. “Fucking ankle, I hope we won't be going far.”
“Just down.” Randy bent and took a set of what looked like building keys out of Kaleb's pocket. “Let's look around for stairs going down.”
“Wait. You saw Kent? Outside before we came in?”
“Yeah. I saw him, look Katie we know a lot of the teams didn't make it. I've been losing contact with them all day.”
“I wonder which building they were on?”
Randy shrugged, “It could have been this one. Does it matter much?”
“We could use their equipment.”
“I guess. We pretty much are carrying all we can now.” Randy turned and limped off down the corridor.
Katie limped after him, then asked, “Why are you limping?”
“I must have pulled something in the fight.” Randy said, continuing on.
“Look at us, a couple of cripples wandering around a war zone.”
