Brent rushed over to the portable stereo he’d looted from one of the base’s work areas and shut off the song halfway through. “Sorry, sir, won’t happen again.”
Warren hid a smile. He wondered if he was ever as young as Brent was. “It’s okay, Private, and please stop calling me
“Yes…” Brent caught himself before he ended with the word
“At ease, soldier. I didn’t come by to give you hell. I’m working on a list of the stuff in the armory for Mike and just thought you might want to help me finish it.”
Brent visibly relaxed. “Love to, sir.”
Warren shot him a look. “Call me Warren, damn it, or I will end up kicking your ass after all, got it?”
Brent nodded and started to collect his stuff from the hallway.
“Leave it,” Warren ordered. “It shouldn’t take us long. You’ll be surfing the corridors again before you know it.”
The base consisted of four levels. The top held the administrative areas, and the second floor housed a mixture of supply storage, generators, the armory, and things of that nature. Both the third and fourth story contained a mixture of quarters, labs and the like, but unique to the third were the communications room and security area.
Warren and Brent got into the elevator, and Warren hit the button for the second floor. As the doors closed, he spoke up. “I’ve been meaning to ask how you got out of the attack on the convoy alive. Most everyone credits you with saving their lives, but I wanted to hear from you what really went down out there.”
Brent shifted uncomfortably. “I just did what I had to do.”
“I know that, soldier. I’m not looking to place judgment. It’s a miracle any of you got out. I just want to hear how you pulled it off.”
Brent took in a deep breath and started his explanation. “We were all tired and hungry. You know how tough life on the road could be, and that was an especially bad day after you guys left. We had a hell of time getting to the rally point. Gerald was raging worse than usual, and we were forced several times to stop just so he and his crew could jury-rig some of the vehicles to keep them rolling. When we finally made it there, all anyone wanted to do was rest. There were more of the wandering dead around than usual, so Mike ordered me to round up some volunteers to help deal with them. None of us were concerned… well, not really. We just figured the slightly higher number of the dead came from being closer to a formerly populated area. I sent the regulars to their posts and was still trying to get some people to help us out when all hell broke loose.
“Suddenly the dead were pouring like rivers out of the hills all around us. I’d never seen anything like it. They just kept coming, wave after wave of them, staggering towards the convoy. I rushed to the perimeter to try to take command of the convoy’s watchers, but the panic in the camp was too great. Almost everybody with a gun started shooting. We started having our own people caught in the crossfire…” Brent paused;
“The rats came in, using the dead as cover. I saw Mike on top of the command car with that little guy he spends so much time with. Mike himself was using the car’s mounted weapon. I knew I couldn’t reach them, so I couldn’t ask him what to do. Rationally I guess I knew we couldn’t use the flamethrowers against the rats with so many of the dead around, but I went for them anyway. My mind kept screaming that they were our only hope against the rats. Even an automatic rifle is nearly useless if you’re facing a swarm of them.
“I made it to the supply truck, grabbed the closest flamethrower and lit it up. Something must have snapped in me because I just let go with it. I started torching everything that moved. The rats began to keep away from the area I was in, and I realized most of the camp was already on fire. Somehow the tank had exploded.”
“The tank exploded?” Warren asked.
“Yeah, it was a nightmare. Anyway, a few others flocked to my position to keep the dead off me, and suddenly my little burning patch of the camp became an island of safety from the rats. We held off the dead long enough to load up anyone we could in the closest vehicles that weren’t on fire, and then we rolled out. We had to leave the truck with the flamethrowers, and it blew just as we made it out. We lost a car from the blast. I will never forget seeing those poor people being burnt alive, but I think it’s what saved us and let us get away. We tore a streak out of there and just kept running until Mike’s little buddy heard you on the radio and we were able to meet up.”
“Stop blaming yourself,” Warren told him. “It sounds to me like you’re the only reason anyone’s alive from the convoy. I would have done the same things you did. Guess I should be glad I left you behind.”
Brent tried to smile.
“Well, soldier, let’s go see what we’ve got on hand in case the rats come calling.”
“Yes, sir,” Brent said, and Warren let the “S” word slide as they entered the armory.
At 1600 hours on their seventh day at the base, the survivors assembled for the first time to discuss their plans for the future. Mike had organized the meeting and had chosen the mess hall for the location.
By the time he and Benji entered the room, everyone except for Darren, who was working on the base’s systems while on watch in the command room, were already waiting on them. Benji broke away from Mike’s side and took a seat at the front of the small group near Michelle, Warren, and Brent.
“Good afternoon,” Mike began, looking out into the faces before him. “I know you’re all as glad to be here as I am, so let’s start with a bit about where we’re staying. Long before the world fell apart, the government and the military were experimenting with ways of waging war that, if unleashed, could have brought about a hell similar to what we live in today. There are bases like this scattered across the U.S., but
“The most deadly bio-weapons man ever conceived were being designed here. Only a select few in the government knew this place existed. During your stay here, you have likely noticed some of the rooms are sealed off. I don’t have the codes to access those doors, and I am not certain we should open them even if we could. From top to bottom, this base was built not only to keep unauthorized personnel out, but to contain the things that were being created here if something went wrong. This base is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the safest place in the western world—maybe the whole world. In short, I believe we are as safe here as we’re ever going to be.”
Mike paused, letting his words sink in. “So that brings us to the issues of actually living here. Most of you in at least some sort of fashion have helped take stock of the useful things this base contains. We have running water, an unlimited, shielded supply of it, so thank God for that. There’s enough food to keep us from starving for years without rationing. And Warren was quite pleased with what we found in the armory. He believes we have the firepower to make a stand if the rats find this place. The sole real concern of the base is power.
“Though it’s partially solar powered and has a wide array of batteries and generators to help recharge them, our fuel supply is limited. Eventually some of us may be forced to venture out to obtain more, but for now we’re okay. I don’t see the need for an expedition aboveground at least for a month or two. Thus, I suggest we enjoy what we’ve been blessed with. We have plenty of time to come up with viable solutions to the fuel issue. It’s time for us to rest and live a little again in a world where so many others don’t have the luxury.”
Benji cleared his throat and got up to stand beside Mike. “We may have everything we need, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. We need people to cook, clean, pull watch shifts, and people to try to make contact with other survivors. And people to plan for what the future may bring. The world may be dead, but life goes on and so does work.
“Now that we’re not on the run anymore, we need a better assessment of just what everyone is capable of and what duties they would like to take on in our new home. I’ll be meeting with each one of you over the next day or so to see where everyone can be the greatest help, then we’ll come up with a duty roster so everyone knows where they stand and exactly what they’re responsible for. Each of us will pull our own weight from now on.”
Mike motioned Benji to silence. “With that said, if you have any questions, you’re welcome to approach Benji or myself at anytime, and we’ll do our best to address them.”
As the meeting broke up, Mike judged that most people seemed not just hopeful but happy. He was sure eventually there would be complaints and disputes over everything from assignments to living quarters, but as a whole, things were going well and the group was on its way to a real future.
Mike followed Benji out of the breaking crowd and into the base’s control center, where Darren was working in one of the terminals.
