No Easy Hope - 01 (32 page)

“Where are you rushing off to?” I asked.

She smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed after she finished dressing.

“There’s a lot of work to do today. You’ve gone and stirred yourself up a hornet’s nest.”

She ran a hand through my hair and down my face. It felt wonderful. I took her hand in mine and kissed it.

“Do we have to get up so early? Come back to bed for a little while.”

I smiled and reached up to pull her close to me. She caught my hands and playfully pushed them down against my chest.

“No way, mister. As tempting as it might be, I will not be drawn into a bout of morning sex. Not when we have so much to do.”

Her smile faded a bit, and she stared intently at me for a long moment before she leaned down and gave me a soft, gentle kiss.

“There are a lot of people out there who will be risking their lives because of you. I care about those people, and I expect you not to let them down. Can I count on you for that, Eric?”

Her words dispelled my blissful reverie like a thin fog under the noonday sun. A sharp spear of anxiety pierced my stomach, and for the first time it occurred to me just how much I was asking the people outside Stacy’s door to count on me. If I was wrong, if I made a miscalculation or a mistake, then people would die and it would be on my head. To call the thought of leading people to their deaths worrisome would be to understate the sentiment by a profound degree. I sat up in Stacy’s bed and took a deep breath before responding.

“You’re right. We have work to do.”

I stood up and picked my clothes up off the ground. Stacy regarded me for a moment with a strange look in her eyes. I was dressed in less than a minute, and Stacy and I stepped into the early morning light filtering down through the windows. Several people, including Ethan, were already up and moving. Justin and Rick stood near the gun locker dressed in combat fatigues. They were loading spare magazines for their weapons and stuffing them into the pockets of tactical vests. Rick had his Mini 14 and a pistol on his hip. Justin had a Kel-Tec SU16 rifle.

Stacy stopped me by taking my hand and gently turning me around.

“I’m going to go help get breakfast ready. I’ll come get you when it’s time to eat.”

“Thanks, I’m going to see what I can do for the diversion team.” I replied.

Stacy put a hand on my chest and stood on her toes. I gave her a kiss and a brief hug before she turned to help some of the other women set up tables. I turned and walked over to Justin and Rick.

“Looks like things are going pretty well between you two.” Justin said with a smirk.

“So far. What are you guys getting into today?” I said.

Justin looked at me for a moment longer, and when it became clear that I nothing to say about Stacy, he shrugged and went back to work loading magazines for his rifle.

“That the only gun you have?” I asked him.

“Yeah, but it’s a pretty good one. It’s light and it’s reliable, albeit not quite as accurate as an AR.”

“You have a pistol?”

“I could take one of the nine millimeters, but honestly I prefer not to carry the extra weight.”

“Stay here a minute, I have something for you.”

Justin looked quizzically at me as I turned and walked over to my truck. I retrieved my Sig Mosquito and the sound suppressor for it, as well as four extra magazines and a holster. I went back to the gun locker and handed it to him.

“This will fit in the holster with the silencer on it, but you need to make sure you have plenty of room to draw it with that thing attached. Each clip only holds ten rounds, so make them count. You can get skull penetration reliably out to about ten yards. Beyond that, no promises.”

“Sweet, thanks dude.” Justin said as he looped the holster into his belt.

“You can thank me by making damn sure you bring it back, and don’t damage that suppressor. It’s the only one I have for that gun.” I replied.

“No problem.” Justin replied, smiling.

I turned to Rick. “You okay with the Ruger, or do you want one of my HK’s?”

“Hell, if you’re offering, I’ll take one. You got one of those fancy silencers for it too?”

“Yup. Hang out, I’ll be right back.”

I went back to my truck, got one of the carbines and some spare magazines, and gave them to Rick. He thanked me, and I helped him load the magazines before showing him how to operate the rifle. Between the rifle’s silencer and red-dot sight, I felt a lot better about his chances if he had to slug it out with the infected. Not that I have a problem with the Mini-14, it is a good rifle, but it was not designed for stealth, and the HK is much more accurate at long range.

I put Rick’s rifle in my truck for safekeeping (and as collateral for my HK) before walking over to where Ethan and Bill sat pouring over a map on a small table. I was a bit apprehensive about speaking to Bill. I did not know if he had heard about me spending the night with his daughter, and I wasn’t quite sure how he might react when he found out. Avoiding him, as nice as it sounded, was not an option if I was going to help plan tomorrows activities. My mother used to tell me that it is better to face a problem head on, than to live in fear of it. Good advice, that.

Ethan noticed me first, and motioned for me to have a seat next to him.

“You’re just in time, we got some questions about the creeps we need answered.” He said.

Bill looked up and his eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled at me.

“Just so you know, I heard about you and Stacy.”

I stopped in my tracks with my hand a few inches from the back of the chair I was about to pull out. My surprise must have registered on my face, because both Bill and Ethan laughed at me. Loudly.

“It’s okay, Eric.” Bill said. “Stacy is a grown woman, and I trust her judgment. Besides, she’s a red blooded human being, the same as anybody else. What she does in the privacy of her own bedroom is her business.”

“Um…thanks.” I said, and sat down across from him.

Andrea walked up to the table with Aiden on her hip and a cup of coffee in one hand. The baby made a noise that sounded like he was saying “hooo, hooo” when he saw his father and leaned toward him with his little arms outstretched. Ethan smiled broadly and took the baby from Andrea as she sat the coffee down on the table far enough away that the baby could not reach it.

“How’s my little man.” Ethan said as he held the baby up and nuzzled his belly. Aiden giggled and pushed at his father’s head. Ethan turned to me and held the baby out.

“You mind holding him for a minute while I put down some coffee?” He asked.

“Uh, no, not at all.”

I could count on one hand the number of times in my entire life that I had held a small child, and my nervousness must have showed. Andrea smiled and moved to stand over my shoulder. I took Aiden and sat him down on the table in front of me, holding the baby awkwardly. Aiden grinned at me and reached out to grab my face. One little hand landed on my cheekbone and squeezed. I leaned back and turned my face away. Aiden kicked his little feet and laughed.

“I think he likes you.” Andrea said.

Aiden picked that moment to raise both hands high over his head and shout,

 “Dab, dab,
daaaaab.
”

Before leaning forward and smacking me soundly in the forehead with both hands. The kid hit surprisingly hard. I winced, irritated for all of about half a second, and then the baby laughed uproariously. He looked ridiculous with drool running down his chin and four tiny little teeth poking through his gums. I smiled at him in spite of myself. Everyone at the table, meanwhile, was leaning over and trying not to fall on the ground as they laughed at me. Andrea rescued me from any further assaults by taking Aiden and planting him back on her hip

“I’m sorry Eric, I shouldn’t laugh at that.” She said, still laughing.

“It’s okay. He’s just a baby.” I replied.

A moment later, she regained her composure and offered to bring Bill and I a cup of coffee. We both accepted.

“Where do you guys get coffee from? That stuff goes bad in like a week. I wouldn’t have thought it would still be around.” I said.

“The vacuum sealed stuff stays good for forever and a day, as long as its stays sealed.” Bill said.

I nodded. I hadn’t thought of that. Some people who knew me before the outbreak thought that I did not like coffee. That is not true, I actually like coffee. I just stopped drinking it when I went to work as a financial analyst after college. The job was stressful enough by itself without caffeine nervousness making it worse. I switched to tea a few months after taking the job, and never looked back. Considering the amount of work I had ahead of me that day, a strong cup of Joe did not seem like such a bad idea. I took Andrea up on her offer, and started fielding questions for Bill and Ethan as she left to go get it.

We spent the next hour pouring over maps checking and rechecking the routes the diversion teams would take. Ethan knew the area well and came up with some alternate routes to follow should the need arise. I volunteered my truck to lead the way into town. The heavy- duty brush guard on the front could plow a path through the infected, hopefully without damaging the engine. Not long after we finished deciding on the diversion routes, Stacy came over to the table to let us know that breakfast was ready. The three of us walked over to the common area and ate with the other compound residents. A few people were on watch, and a handful of others had elected to eat alone. I learned a few more names, and I also learned that Jessica Robinson was Earl’s wife. The two of them made an unusual looking couple, Jessica being lean and athletic, and Earl being a massive mountain of a man. As we talked, I learned that Earl had worked as a diesel mechanic before the outbreak, and Jessica was a personal trainer. Jessica served a stint in the Marines before moving back home to Charlotte three years ago and meeting Earl.

After breakfast, I spent the rest of the day in meetings with Bill and other members of the community. At three in the afternoon, we called another meeting, and went over every aspect of the plan in detail with everyone who was going to be participating. We planned to make the assault in three phases.

Phase 1: The diversion vehicles, led by my truck, would make their way through the center of town and distract the undead. Once we had led them out of sight, we would radio back to the compound, and Bill would lead the retrieval crew to the gun shop.

Phase 2: With the undead diverted, Cody and Stan would enter town first as designated marksmen and clean up any stragglers that didn’t leave with the rest of the horde. When the way was safe, they would radio Bill to bring forward the rest of the crew and start loading the trucks.

Phase 3: Once the vehicles were loaded with as much as they could carry (which would be a lot, considering the size of the moving trucks) the retrieval crew would radio to the diversion team to return to the compound and take the supplies back as quickly as possible.

I suggested to Bill that after his crew unloaded the trucks, time permitting, they should return to town and see if they could scavenge any other supplies that might be useful. Once the undead were lead away from town, it was unlikely that they would be quick to return, if they ever came back at all. Bill considered it, and said he might try it if everything went well on the first trip.

We spent the rest of the day making sure everyone knew their roles, checking the radios to ensure that they functioned properly, and scrounging up fuel for all of the vehicles. Just before sundown, Justin and Rick returned in two commandeered pickup trucks. When I heard that they were back, I went outside to greet them. Earl had already raised the rolling door, and Bill moved the big blue cargo container with a forklift. Both trucks were full size F150s. When they pulled up next to the compound, I noticed that the beds of both trucks were nearly overflowing with cargo. I walked up to the truck Justin was driving and leaned an elbow against the driver side window.

“Where on Earth did you get all this stuff.” I said, gesturing at the supplies.

Justin grinned. “We took it from a housing development not far from here. The place was crawling with undead when we found it, but we managed to set up a little trap for the bastards thanks to those nice weapons you gave us this morning.”