A New World: Chaos (37 page)

“Not a prob,” Drescoll responds.

Lynn
walks to where Taylor and the Private are standing by the front door.
 
The shrieks have grown less frequent in nature but the sounds and reverberations of something slamming hard into the building are no longer confined to the door.
 
There are things slamming against the building walls as well.
 
Between the howls and pounding sounds, there is now a continuous growling that seeps into the building from outside.
 
The sporadic gunfire heard in the distance earlier is now either non-existent or overshadowed by the closer sounds.

“I’m heading in the office for a look outside.
 
Have you heard anything different than, well, this?”
 
She asks indicating the obvious noises with a nod of her head, barely visible in the gray darkness.

“No, Sergeant,” Taylor responds and Lynn heads into the office on her right.

In the office, the window stands at about eye level looking out to the front of the building.
 
She steps up to the window and gazes out over the wide avenue.
 
The building is raised from the ground so eye level to her is a ways off the ground outside.
 
Looking left and right, the avenue is clear with the exception of about twenty people crowded in front of the TOC.
 
The crowd consists mostly of fatigue-clad soldiers but mixed in are people in shorts and t-shirts.
 
A couple of them are darker skinned and dressed in jeans and button-down short-sleeve shirts.
 
They are mostly milling about but definitely focused on the building she is in.
 
A few of them take short runs at the building and slam into the sides or up the steps outside and into the front door with their shoulders.
 
Some attempt to run and jump at the other window on the other side of the door but the window and its small ledge seem too high for them to reach.

As she continues to gaze out at the crowd, she notices one detail prevalent in all of them by the light streaming down on them, and that is the paleness of their skin.
 
It seems to be pale gray with both small and large darker gray blotches.
 
Several appear to have blood painted on their faces and hands.
 
Some of their clothing is soaked in what appears to be either dried or drying blood.
 
A very large chill crawls up her spine and a sense of surrealness steels over her.
 
Oh my fucking god, are those freakin’ zombies?
 
She thinks shaking her head not believing entirely what she is seeing outside
.
 
No, can’t be.
 
A flash of memory passes through her mind as she recalls the many zombie discussions she and Jack had in the past.
 
Talking about what they would do in the event of a zombie invasion and discussing the various zombie books they had read.

The trip down memory lane is broken when one of the crowd notices her in the window and shrieks out.
 
She looks down at the figure hunched toward her with its mouth open.
 
The others pause in whatever activity they were at and focus on her, running towards her window.
 
The one who discovered her runs at her, launches itself up, and slams into the side of the building.
 
She notes all of them have focused on her and that a distraction could possibly work in the event they need to hastily exit.
 
The shrieks and pounding increase in intensity with their having discovered someone inside.
 
Lynn
backs away from the window and out of the office.

“You holler if anyone or anything breaches the front of the building. Watch out for the windows,” she says passing by Taylor and the Private once more.

“Will do, Sergeant,” Taylor responds.

In the open area once again, she signals Sergeant Drescoll to her rather than joining the small group.
 
She relates everything she saw, although not her thoughts.
 
Their voices don’t carry past their position.

“What the fuck is going on?”
 
He asks after hearing her report.

“I have no idea,” she replies back.
 
“We need to keep away from the windows and maintain silence though.
 
We’ll just hole up here and see what the morning brings.
 
In the meantime, we’ll stay on the phones.”

Drescoll nods in agreement.
 
“What about the lights?”

“We’ll turn on a couple to indicate to anyone outside, well, the ones that haven’t gone crazy, that the TOC is manned.”
 
He nods and Lynn steps over to the others in the room informing them of her plans.
 
Next, she heads to the front to notify Taylor and the Private.

The remainder of the evening is spent with little change in their situation.
 
There is no response from any of the calls outbound and none of the lines ring with anyone calling in.
 
The sounds outside become more sporadic with the exception of the constant muted growling.
 
The only change occurs a little after 0200 when the occasional pounding and growling begins occurring along the side of the building under the windows from where their inside lights are emitting outside.
 
After turning the lights completely out, submersing them in almost total darkness, the sounds along the side eventually transition to the back door.
 
With everyone keyed up and facing a very confusing situation, there is no sleep to be had.

Little is said during the rest of the night.
 
Lynn ponders whether this is an isolated incident but the fact that they cannot raise anyone either inside the camp, or any of the other bases in country, leads her to believe this may be on a much larger scale.
 
Calls to other bases within the states or
Europe
also go unanswered.
 
Could this be happening world-wide?
 
She thinks staring out through the window from her position near the center of the room at the star-speckled sky.
 
I hope Jack is okay
and her heart both tightens and warms at the thought of him.

With the coming dawn, the sky not yet lighting with the false dawn but promising it is near, something happens that draws everyone’s attention.
 
Or really, it is more like the lack of something happening that draws their attention.
 
The sounds outside suddenly, and without warning, cease.
 
Complete silence ensues.
 
In the dark gray of the building,
Lynn
walks into the front office once again and slowly peers out of the side of the window, careful not to draw any attention.
 
The buildings, avenue and lights remain the same but there is no one to be seen.
 
To the east, she can barely make out the sky beginning to light up.
 
The one thing that does draw her attention is a form on the ground under one of the lights far down the avenue to her left.
 
That must be the guy who was attacked by those first two
, she thinks and withdraws from the window.

“You two with me,” she says to Taylor and the Private as she passes by them on exiting the office and proceeds back to the other group members.

Drawing the group together in the center of the room, she notifies them of the situation out front.
 
“When it gets fully light, you two will continue to man the TOC,” she says pointing to the Specialist and one of the Privates.
 
“The rest of us will draw weapons and head over to the security shop.
 
I’m not sure what happened so we need to stay together and alert.
 
This facility will remain on lockdown and you ID anyone trying to come in.
 
No ID, no entrance.
 
Any questions?”

Drescoll shakes his head and the others respond with, “No, Sergeant Connell.”

The sun crests the horizon transitioning from night to day.
 
The transition in the desert comes quickly.
 
One moment night holds sway, and the next, the land stands bathed in daylight.
 
After checking through the office window once more and verifying that nothing is moving outside, Lynn opens the front door and steps out into the morning light, squinting against the sudden change in brightness.
 
The chill of the night quickly turning into the heat of the day but moderately comfortable at the moment.
 
With Sergeant Drescoll and Specialist Taylor off each shoulder and slightly behind her, and the two Privates behind them, she starts off through the sand towards the armory to draw their weapons.

On the way, they pass by the form in the avenue.
 
It is indeed a soldier, or rather, what once was one.
 
Its field cap lies on the ground by its head.
 
I say ‘its’ because the gender is unidentifiable.
 
The tissue on the face is completely removed leaving only the facial bone structure staring up at the blue sky lighting up with the rising sun.
 
The uniform is shredded and almost completely removed from the body.
 
The only piece remaining is the belt and small section of the pants just below it.
 
That piece and the shreds of uniform lying on the ground around are covered in dried blood.
 
The rest of the body appears to have been almost completely eaten with the bones only holding small bits of tendons and flesh.
 
Blood is soaked into the sand around the body which is churned up denoting a frenzy of activity.
 
One lung and chunks of internal organs are the only things remaining within the torso and chest cavity.

One of the Privates leans over and throws up the little in his stomach, dry heaving once everything has been expelled but unable to stop.
 
Lynn
looks over at
Taylor
and he walks to the Private and guides him a little ways down to the avenue removing him from the proximity.
 
As he is doing this,
Lynn
reaches down and removes one of the dog tags, sticking one in her pocket and leaving one with the body.

“Okay, let’s move on,” she says straightening.

The only sounds in the area are of generator motors running in the distance with some closer.
 
The usual morning activity of people heading off on various assignments and errands are non-existent.
 
A little further away from the TOC and the body of the soldier in the road, a figure steps out from a building ahead and into the roadway.
 
The small group freezes into place, ready for anything that may come.
 
Stopping in the road, the figure ahead looks anxiously to the left and right before sighting the group.
 
Appearing startled by the sight of her group of five, the figure walks warily toward them, tensed and ready to run.
 
Lynn
turns her head over her shoulder and tells everyone to remain in place.

As the figure draws near,
Lynn
observes the wariness and tension from the fatigue-clad soldier.
 
“Identify yourself,” Lynn calls out once the soldier closes in to where they can hear without her broadcasting their location.
 
The tension visibly leaves the soldier as she replies back, “Corporal Horace.”

“You’re the first ones I’ve seen today, Sergeant,” Horace replies as she steps up to the group.

She then relates her story of the night prior detailing how she headed out to the latrine in the middle of the night and was chased repeatedly until taking refuge in one of the buildings for the night.
 
She was over by zone 2 and listened all night to the shrieks, howls, and apparent running gunfights with the sounds of the gunfire dying around 0200.
 
Watching from the windows of her building, she saw several other soldiers attacked and taken down,

Heading over to the camp armory, the group encounters more bodies of soldiers and civilian contractors laying in the sand in various positions but looking like the first body they encountered to some degree or another; bones stripped mostly to the skin.

“What in the world could or would do this?”
 
Taylor asks quietly as they pass two more bodies lying in the warming desert sun, not really expecting an answer.

As with the first soldier she encountered, Lynn removes a dog tag from each one adding them to the growing number in her pocket.

“I don’t know but we’re going to have to assume the camp has been overrun at this point,” Lynn replies noting the very distinct lack of people or the noises normally associated with a large group of people assembled in one place.