No Easy Hope - 01 (34 page)

She smiled, her full lips parting slightly. “No. They brought in a couple of gallon jugs of the stuff. It still had the tamper seals on it, so we figured it would be safe to drink. There was enough for everybody.”

“There any left?” I asked. I really like apple cider.

“No, this is the last of it. Sorry.”

I shrugged. “No worries.”

I leaned back in the chair and stretched my legs out in front of me. There was a candle burning in a jar on a small table to Stacy’s right. The firelight framed her in orange and gold, accentuating the graceful curves of her face. She was almost painfully beautiful in that light. I reached out and laid my hand over hers on the arm of her chair. She turned her head toward me and smiled.

“Busy day, huh?” She asked.

“You’re not kidding. What time is it? I haven’t even looked.”

Stacy held her watch over the candle. “A quarter after nine.”

“Really? I thought it was later than that.”

“Well, we got up at six thirty this morning. You’ve been going non-stop since then.” She said.

“Yeah, and I’m feeling it. I’m exhausted.”

“How tired are you, exactly?”

I turned to look at her, and a playful smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. She raised her eyebrows twice and winked at me. I couldn’t help but laugh at her.

“I think I have a little left in the tank.” I said.

“Good. I’d like you to try for an encore of last night’s performance, if you up to it.”

I answered by standing and sweeping her up out of her chair. She let out a surprised squeak as I picked her up, and playfully slapped me on the chest. I carried her into her shack and kicked the door shut behind us. The rest of the evening was equally, if not more pleasant than the one before. As I fell asleep, I sincerely hoped that all the noise didn’t wake anyone up. Stacy got a bit loud for a while there.

Chapter 12

Last Minute Changes

I woke up early the next morning to the sound of the rolling door going up at the other end of the warehouse. Stacy and I extricated ourselves from one another and got dressed. We stepped out into the dim light of the warehouse and held hands as we walked across to the storage area. The compound was a hive of activity. Excited voices filled the air as people checked weapons, cleared space on shelves, and packed up food and water to bring with them to town. The other members of the diversion team were already gearing up beside the gun locker. I started to head toward them when Stacy tugged on my arm and turned me around.

“I’m going to go help make breakfast for the children. Come see me before you leave, okay?” She said.

“Sure. Save me a plate, will you?”

Stacy smiled and stood on her toes with her face upturned. I gave her a kiss and a long hug before letting her go. She was warm, and her arms felt good around my neck.

The guys at the gun locker watched us part ways. They exchanged a round of elbow nudging and meaningful glances as I approached. They all wore old-fashioned Army surplus combat fatigues and tactical vests except for Earl. He wore a pair of grease stained coveralls with his name embroidered over the breast pocket. I guess whatever surplus store these guys had raided didn’t have anything in Earl’s size. Ethan smiled and clapped me on the shoulder by way of greeting when I reached him.

“Glad you decided to join us. I was beginning to wonder if I should go and knock on Stacy’s door, everything is just about ready to go.” He said.

“Yeah, well, better late than never. Any of you guys seen Bill around?”  I replied.

Justin pointed out the rolling door. “He’s out with a couple of other guys checking the moving trucks.”

“Okay. I’m going to suit up and see about calling a final meeting to get everyone organized before we head out. Can one of you guys check the radios?”

“Already done.” Steve said. “They all have a full charge. We just need to suit up and get our ducks in a row, then we’ll be ready to roll out.”

His expression and tone were neutral, and I appreciated that he was behaving like a professional. In his combat gear, Steve looked every bit like the elite soldier he had been before the outbreak. He was clean-shaven, and had even managed to get a haircut at some point during the previous night. He looked several years younger with his hair clipped short and without the five o’clock shadow.

“Great. Looks like you guys are on top of things.” I said, nodding to Steve. “I’ll be ready to go in about ten minutes. Have you all eaten yet?”

“Yeah, we ate earlier.” Ethan replied. “You should get something before we leave, it’s going to be a long day.”

I nodded. “I’ll do that. It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea for all of us to bring some spare food and water, just in case.”

“Already got it covered.” Justin said. “Emily is packing three days worth of food and water into rucksacks and putting them in the diversion vehicles.”

“Alright then, I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

I turned and walked over to my truck and took a pair of cargo pants, a white t-shirt, and a bush jacket out of my suitcase. I put them on, along with a pair of sturdy leather combat boots, and buckled on my load-bearing harness. I loaded five spare magazines each for both my pistol and rifle and put them in pouches on the harness. After grabbing my small sword and its makeshift sling, I set the weapons aside and started unloading the truck.

I stacked all of my weapons and ammunition to one side of the truck, and set everything else on the ground behind it. The red plastic gasoline container I took from the abandoned farmhouse a few days ago was one of the first items I picked up, and I poured all of its contents into the truck’s gas tank. I couldn’t believe it had only been three days since I left home, it felt like much longer than that. In that short amount of time I had managed to find a group of survivors, befriend a few of them, make one enemy, get drunk, and I even managed to get laid. Twice. Now I was about to take part in a dangerous assault on a town overrun with infected, and risk my life trying to help a bunch of people that I barely knew.

Why was I doing this? What did I stand to gain?

The gas can emptied, and I set it down with the rest of my gear. As I sorted through my weapons, I thought about why I wanted to help the compound. I honestly did not know why I felt compelled to do something for these people, but compelled I was. Maybe it was not about what I stood to gain, but about what all these poor beleaguered people stood to lose. They had managed to create a bastion of safety and sanity in a world gone completely mad. In the face of the worst disaster ever to strike the human race, these folks were still working and trying to build something. They were willing to fight to ensure that they had a future.

 I wondered what I would have done if the people here had decided not to raid Alexis. Would I still have stayed? Would I have tried to help Ethan come up with another plan?

No. Probably not.

I would have thanked them for their hospitality, apologized to Ethan, packed up my gear, and gotten back on the road. I was thankful things had not gone down that way. What really made the difference for most people here was when Bill threw his support behind me. He weighed the risks against the rewards, and decided it was worth taking the chance. Even Steve, who liked me about as much as I like rat shit in my chicken soup, was willing to put aside our differences to help his fellow survivors. If these people were willing to trust me, and to put their faith in me, then what kind of man would I be if I did not try to help them?

Not much of one, that’s for sure.

After making sure all unnecessary items were out of my truck, I dragged my box of weapons and the two boxes of grenades back to the open part of the storage area. Bill came back into the building while I was doing so, and I waved him over.

“What can I do for you, Eric?” He asked as he approached.

“I have a few things here that might be of use today.” I replied.

“Let’s see what you’ve got.”

I opened the plastic trunk and took out all of my weapons. When I opened the boxes of grenades, Bills eyes went wide with surprise.

“Good Lord in the morning, where the hell did you get those things?” He asked, staring at the explosives.

“Would you believe they were a gift from a friend of mine?”

“You get these from that Gabriel fella you were talking about earlier?”

“Yes, I did. I honestly don’t like these things, I’ve never tried to use a grenade before. Is there anyone here who might be able to do something useful with them?” I asked.

Bill took a deep breath and rubbed a hand across his forehead.

“Well, I imagine that Steve could use them. There are a couple of other folks here who served in the military, maybe they could too. I’m not sure how good of an idea it is to put these things in untrained hands.”

“I couldn’t agree more. That’s exactly why I’m not taking any of them with me. Tell you what, let’s call a meeting and see if there is anybody here who can think of something to do with a big box of grenades.”

Bill nodded. “Good idea. We need to settle these folks down and make sure the plan is clear to everyone before we get started.”

Bill climbed up on a crate and called for everyone’s attention. In a few moments, a small knot of excited, anxious people stood in front of him and listened as he gave final orders for the day’s mission. He answered a few questions, clarified some instructions, and then motioned for everyone to follow him over to my pile of weapons. I had laid the rifles and pistols out on a blanket, and the two boxes of grenades stood open to the crowd. The sight of the impressive arsenal earned me more than a few suspicious stares from the good people of the compound.

“Does anyone here other than Steve have any military experience?” Bill asked.

Jessica, Rick, and surprisingly, Noah Salinger raised their hands.

“What branch did you serve in, and what did you do?” Bill said.

Rick spoke up first. “Army. I was a tank mechanic, but I was also a good rifleman.”

Bill nodded and pointed at Jessica. “Jess, I already know about you. What about you, Noah?”

“I served in the Navy for four years. I was a gas turbine electrician, and I also volunteered for my ship’s security force. I can handle a pistol and a shotgun pretty well, but I don’t have a lot of experience with rifles. We didn’t use them very much.”

“Alright, good to know. Any of you ever been trained on how to use grenades?”

Rick and Jessica gave affirmatives, but Noah shook his head.

“I’m afraid not, Bill. Grenades are too destructive to use on ships. You never know if you might hit a fuel line or something.” He said.

“Cody, Stan, what about you two?” Bill asked.

The two former police officers looked at each other and shrugged ruefully.

“Sorry, Bill. Police generally try to
avoid
blowing things up.” Cody said.

“I can use them.” Steve said as he walked up to the boxes. “Jess, Rick, come and take what you want. I’ll bring the rest with me.”

Steve looked at the diversion crew and smiled, his yellowish eyes gleaming with mischief.

 “Change of plans guys. I’m riding with Eric.”

I wasn’t sure if I liked the sound of that.

Bill asked if anyone else had any questions, and when no one spoke up, he called an end to the meeting.

“Alright, the diversion crew will head out shortly. Everbody else, get to your stations and be ready. If anyone wants to swap out weapons, now is the time to do it.”

I stood by my weapons and waited for people to come over. I figured a few of them might want to borrow some of my guns. I handed out all of my pistols except the Kel-Tec, and Greg traded out his hunting rifle for my Benelli shotgun. Jess and Rick took three fragmentation grenades each, and Steve placed the rest of them in the back of my truck. He also picked up my sniper rifle and a couple of boxes of ammunition for it.