Soldier On: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse (31 page)

Ian hoped the patrol didn’t have time to radio wherever they called home to report the ambush. He didn’t want the remnants of the US military to have any reason to send aerial reconnaissance or more boots on the ground out looking for them.

With a concerned look on his face Bishop switched the frequency on his radio and called his number two man.

Carson answered immediately. “Yes.”

“Are our air defenses in place yet?”

“They’re in transit, overland, and less than a day out.”

Ian Bishop shook his head in disgust and continued pacing the room, “And the Minot mission?”

“We have secured the packages and they are in transit as well.”

“Excellent Carson, things are falling into place. In a few short days we will be a formidable adversary...that is, if anyone has the nerve to challenge our authority.”

Bishop ended his conversation with Carson. He then took a walk to find Robert Christian and deliver the positive news.

Outbreak Day 7

Schriever AFB

Colorado Springs, Colorado

“Carl. Squeeze my hand. I know you’re there.”

The heart rate monitor blipped along the same as it had since Carl succumbed to the infections wrought on him by his undead assailant.

“Cade is coming to see you soon, don’t you want to say hi to him? You two got along so good. Remember his bachelor party.” Brook had no idea what went on that night but at this point she was grasping at straws and wanted another sign-any sign-that he was coming out of the coma.

Brook was out of ideas. Time was going to have to heal Carl’s wounds. She swabbed some water on his tongue and lips.
Come on brother keep fighting
, she thought,
it’s only you and I, Mom and Pop are gone
. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back big brother.”

She had a good feeling that Carl would be ok. The way he tackled his alcoholism and got sober proved he is a survivor.

Brook left her brother and headed for the door, she wanted to go and check on Annie and the little pink Mike Junior.

Carl opened his eyes; the light attacked his optic nerves like microscopic razor blades. He didn’t know where he was or how he came to be in the hospital bed, but he had recognized his sister’s voice urging him to join her. His nerves were waking up along with his brain. It felt like a million red ants had taken up residence under his skin, their gnashing pincers rending scraps of his flesh to take to their queen. Supernovas of white hot pain erupted all over his body. The sound that he forced from his throat was but a rattle of suffering and misery. “Help me...sis.”

Outbreak Day 7

Schriever AFB

Colorado Springs, Colorado

“Freda Crash, you’re a sight for sore eyes?”

The petite major visibly blanched. “Wyatt, who the eff told you my new nickname?”

Cade grinned at Freda Nash. They went way back. If there was an important op running anywhere in the world, it definitely had Freda’s fingerprints all over it. “What happens in Bagram,
does not stay in Bagram
.”

“I’ve never driven a Hummer before.”

Cade took the opening, “From what I’ve heard,
nobody
else will be able to drive that Hummer... at least you didn’t take out any aircraft.”

Blatantly changing the subject, “I met Brook, lovely lady. You wouldn’t believe what she did for Desantos’ wife.”

“And I presume I don’t want to know.” Cade arched his eyebrows, his body language contradicting his words.

“Do you want to know why I need your ear?” Freda asked, throwing her hands up in a display of mock disgust.

“I need a favor from you...then; I might take listening to what you have to say into consideration. In the past, every time you needed to tell me something I usually ended up tangling with an HVT.”

“Wyatt, there aren’t any more high value targets. There are only the undead and opportunist breathers.”

“I came here from Portland. Getting here was like that movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles only throw in an ass load of walking dead. I almost bought it more times than I can count. A few days back I had a run in with a large gang of outlaw bikers, and their leader, a big redhead bastard. Richard Ganz fancies himself as the new owner of Idaho. The waste of skin has had a hand in a number of murders.”

“Why didn’t you put a bullet in his brain? You’re good at that...I’ve seen the after-action reports.

“Ok. Here is my after-action report: We drove. We killed zombies. The bikers killed lawmen and National Guardsmen. Ganz and his boys killed my friends and tried to kill me. Lastly, I sent a few of them to hell...but Ganz, he slipped the noose. I had him in my sights outside of Boise but he was out of range.
The bottom line is...this mutt needs to die
.”

Cade broke it down to all of the specifics that he knew first and then added the second hand information that Dan had provided.

“I’ll see if I can help you with your problem. Sounds like a worthy endeavor. But...you need to hear me out. Ok?”

“I owe you that much.” Cade instantly regretted leaving the door cracked open.

Freda Nash’s face regained its normal hue, “Mr. Grayson can you be back here at zero-one-hundred?”

“I’ll clear my schedule.”

“One more thing soldier.”

“Yes Ms. Cra...” Cade almost uttered her nickname but thought better of it. Retired or not, he was still addressing a major.

“Forget what you may have heard about how I procured my nickname.”

“What do you speak of...” Cade said feigning ignorance.

“Zero-one-hundred, I’m going to find an eye in the sky.
Do not be late
.”

Cade left the meeting with a sense of urgency. He needed to find the old Vietnam Vet named Dan; and he had a little less than three hours to make it happen.

***

The Airman that fetched him minutes ago was still standing outside the major’s door.
“E-3 Davis Come with me.”
Cade barked.

“Sir?”

“Officers rarely joke and this is no exception.” Without a backward glance, Cade walked briskly; off to find someplace he could stop and continue the charade in a more private setting.

He must be with the Joint Chiefs
, Airman Davis thought,
or military intelligence
. His monkey mind ran through the possibilities as he followed close on the heels of mister whoever the hell he is.

A machine gun rattled off a sustained burst somewhere near the perimeter.

“Those things aren’t taking a day off are they sir?” Davis stammered nervously trying to make small talk.

Sir,
Cade thought,
the ruse must be working
. He was pleased with his human hi-jacking so far.

Cade stopped so fast that E-2 Davis practically marched up his back. “I need you to find two civilians for me. An older gentleman named Dan; he’s a retired Vietnam vet.” Cade pantomimed, “Bushy gray beard, ball cap” and-holding his hand at the gash on his nose-“he’s about this tall.”

“The other man’s name is Duncan Winters. Ex-Army aviator and also a Vietnam vet. Ruddy complexion, narrow squinty eyes and he talks like a cowboy with a healthy twang in his voice. Got all of that?”

“I think so. I mean,
yes sir.
” The E-2 remembered who he was addressing and saluted.

Cade returned the salute. “Bring them to the Space Command complex by 0100. Don’t let me down.”

Still holding the salute but looking a little shaky Airman Davis repeated himself exhibiting more enthusiasm, “
Sir. Yes sir.
”

Outbreak Day 7

Schriever AFB

0100 Space Command Operations

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Cade rapped on the solid door. Major Freda Nash let him inside the secure operations room. The first thing he noticed was the abundance of flat panel monitors. The only place that Cade had seen more screens was the rear wall in a
Best Buy
store. Cade was in man cave heaven gazing at all of the shiny TVs.

Major Nash cleared her throat.

Cade recognized the other petite woman; Valerie Clay was the Speaker of the House. It dawned on him then, that she was next in succession and therefore, since Odero was dead, she was the President. The lady wore an olive drab long-sleeved shirt, khaki pants and a pair of sturdy hiking boots. To Cade it looked like she was a Sierra Club member and not the Commander-in-Chief. A colonel stood in the wings, obviously letting the major run the show. Seeing as how Major Nash was the satellite wizard it made perfect sense. Behind the colonel, President Clay’s stone faced Secret Service agents stood at attention trying to remain inconspicuous.

“Madame President you already know General Mike Desantos, let me introduce you to Sergeant First Class, retired, Cade Grayson.”

“Good to finally meet you Mr. Grayson. I have heard nothing but good things about you. I want to personally thank you for bagging Uday and Qusay.”

The news stunned Duncan, he knew Cade was special, but he had no idea he was Tier-One. Dan also was taken aback. He beamed at the revelation and couldn’t wait to thank the hero.

“It was my pleasure Madam President.”

“Sorry I didn’t mean to snub you two gentlemen. Major Nash briefed me. Your service in Southeast Asia will never be forgotten. If you would consider passing on your war fighting knowledge to our young men and women here in Colorado Springs I would be extremely grateful. With so few of us left everyone is going to have to cross train and learn how to combat this new enemy. I believe the window is about to open...Major Nash will take it from here.”

Cade knew instantly what he was looking at and judging by the constantly changing numbers in the lower left corner of the display the image was coming from somewhere in real-time. It was the two tone gray gun camera feed from a Reaper or Predator UAV.

“President Clay, the Colonel and I wanted you men to see this with your own eyes. Cade has vouched for the two civilians and I concur they can remain. Let me stress-what you see here
does not
leave this room.”

The image on the largest screen continued to slowly rotate as the UAV circled the target.

“The video on screen number one is streaming real-time from an HQ-9 Reaper.” Nash inserted a Bluetooth enabled Plantronics ear bud. “
Zoom one stop
.” She was giving orders to some PS3 veteran sitting in an air-conditioned trailer at Creech AFB in Nevada.

The magnification increased, the forest that dominated the screen disappeared. A wide open courtyard surrounded by multiple buildings that varied in size took its place, a long access road snaked from the compound, at least thirty pickup trucks and SUVs were parked haphazardly on both sides.

Dan squinted his eyes, although the compound looked tiny from the drones altitude, he instantly recognized it.

Major Nash continued, “Colonel Shrill authorized me to redirect these assets from other areas. Cade Grayson appealed to me to surveil a group that are taking advantage of the citizenry and also responsible for a number of murders. Based on the images captured during the first Keyhole Sat pass we have decided to retaliate decisively and with impunity.”

“Oorah,” Dan added, he was in total agreement.

Screen number two lit up. The satellite imagery was less grainy than the Reapers feed. The compound remained in the center of the screen, but from a different angle. It looked to Cade like U.S. military vehicles were parked on the premises. Two Humvees and a lone M1A1 Abrams stood out in stark relief. People were evident, moving about, inside and around the target area.

The more the merrier
, Dan thought.
They didn’t spare any Stanley citizens
.

Once again the image changed, the same vehicles reappeared only magnified much larger, and it was evident that all three of the military vehicles were adorned with Nazi flags.

“That’s Ganz and his boys,” Dan muttered.

The magnification increased again.

 Duncan noticed he could actually read some of the license plates on the parked vehicles.

Dan gritted his teeth as Richard Ganz likeness came into view. It was surreal seeing the dirtbag again, his red mane appeared close enough to touch.

“This imagery was taken at 1245, twenty minutes ago outside of Stanley, Idaho. Can anyone positively identify the individual on the screen?” Nash asked.

Dan answered forcefully. “That’s Richard Ganz.
Tell your pilot to send a missile up his ass.
”

“In due time,” Nash replied. “Let the record indicate we have positive target identification.”

Cade couldn’t believe with all that was going on in the world anyone would find it necessary to document for the record all the minute details to justify killing this scum.
If he had his way
, Cade thought,
he would snatch the fucker, bring him back and get medieval on his ass
.