The Dying of the Light (Book 1): End (6 page)

Very carefully — and not just because my arm was throbbing by this point after holding it over my head for so long — I removed my jacket and shirt. “Went all the way through, sir.” I pointed out the entry and exit wounds, but he just looked at me.

“Well, if you’re lying, you’re dying, as they say. In any case, you’re a damn sight smarter than some of these jackasses I’ve got here,” he said, jerking a thumb in one grunt’s direction as he rolled his eyes. From the anger I saw on his face, I guessed that was Jenkins.

“Alright, son, get over to the medic and get checked out,” he said. “They’ll let you…”

I interrupted him by fainting as I moved forward, the stress of the past two days — three now, as I noticed the sun coming up — finally catching up with the blood I’d lost. I noticed his name stitched on his uniform as I reached out for him, though.

It can be funny what goes through your mind as you’re passing out from stress and fear and blood loss; for me, it was a completely useless observation.

I’ve never met anyone named Maxwell before.

The massacre at Fall Creek changed everything.

With nearly 1,500 people dead, the cover-up was the most massive in AEGIS history. Along with all the civilians killed, the loss of the state troopers, national guard and soldiers in that action caused those in the know in the government to listen to what their military advisors had been telling them for years: that a corps of specially-trained and conditioned fighting men and women was needed specifically for these sorts of operations.

A classified Executive Order was issued establishing a secret Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, reporting only to the Secretary of Defense and the president. Containing elements of all four military branches, no expense was spared in the outfitting of these teams, their budgets so deeply buried by experts in red tape and secrecy that not even Congress could find them.

An experimental team was formed — a prototype for those that would come after — and began training in the new expanded AEGIS facilities at Fort Carson, Colorado.

Fort Carson, Colorado — Present Day

“Atten-tion!” The shouted order was followed by the sound of many pairs of combat boots coming together in perfect synchronization. I squared my shoulders, took a very deep breath, and opened the door. The very tall, very loud soldier commanding this group made his way over to me. He looked me up and down like a prize fish and shouted once more as I managed to collect my wits and close my mouth.

“Parade rest!” Moving as one, the team shifted to the more relaxed stance, and I straightened to some semblance of attention. I did not insult this man or the other soldiers by saluting, however. I knew that much.

“Blake, isn’t it?” the soldier asked, his voice lowered to what seemed to pass for conversational volume for him. I could tell that he wasn’t thrilled with my presence. For that matter, neither was I. He was graying at the temples, well over six feet tall, and built like Mr. Universe. I swallowed hard and introduced myself.

“Yes, sir. David Blake, reporting as ordered. I wasn’t told who I was to report to specifically, sir.” I lowered my voice to prevent accidental overhearing. “Is this… is this AEGIS, sir?”

He looked at me again, and I could tell he was mentally sizing me up, wondering if I was worth giving a damn about. I hoped that he thought so, or my stint with this group was going to be even harder — and quite possibly much, much shorter — than I thought.
Never make an enemy your first day, kiddo
, I remembered my father saying. Suddenly, the soldier stuck out his hand and smiled.

“Colonel Maxwell, at your service. Welcome to Fort Carson. Glad you could join us.”

Relieved, I smiled back and shook his hand. “I know I’m late, colonel. I don’t have any excuses; I’m simply not used to military bases just yet and I got a bit turned around.”

The colonel snorted. “You will be.” He looked thoughtful. “You know, you may not remember this, but we met once.”

I frantically racked my brain trying to remember where I might have met the man. He smiled as the memory finally came to me and my eyes widened. There was only one other time I’d met anyone from the military as anything other than a lab-rat for Army doctors and psychiatrists. It had been nearly six months since that morning, but I could still see the steel-and-rubber construction of the man who had so casually stopped his squad of soldiers from shooting me dead where I stood.

“Yes, sir,” I said. “I meant to find you, after, but they wouldn’t let me talk to anyone, sir. I was sequestered for four months. I can only assume that you got me to the medic, sir?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I ordered the squad to carry you. You remember Jenkins?” I laughed and smiled as the colonel continued. “That was that boy’s last mission.”

My face fell, and the colonel shook his head, grinning. “Nah, he’s fine, but I think the sight of them nasties made him want to crawl back to his mamma’s skirts. He’s pushin’ paper somewhere in Greenland now, last I heard.”

I smiled in a rictus grin. “Well, sir, you and I both know what that sort of experience will do to a man. I’m just glad that they recognized talent when they saw it,” I said, nodding to the silver birds on his collar.

Maxwell snorted again. “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Still, we lost some good people that day.” The colonel’s gaze went distant as he thought back, then cleared as he came back to the present. “So they tell me you’re going to be a consultant.”

“Yes, sir. General Morrison thought it best when he offered me the spot on the team, since I didn’t have the training that your soldiers have. Still, he wanted me to go through all the new training alongside them, so that I can be ready for the field.”

“That’s a big responsibility, son. And not a little hard work. Top-of-the-line soldiers fail in training like this all the time. You’re gonna be hating life pretty soon.”

“I know, sir,” I said, looking down for a moment, thinking about the past. When I looked back up, I thought I saw a flash of concern in the colonel’s eyes. “But I’m game.”  I hoped he couldn’t see the real reason that I was up for this mission — that I had nowhere else to go.

He looked at me, gauging me again, and then he cleared his throat and jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

“Take the last chair, Blake,” he said.

“Yes, sir,” I said, and moved to my appointed position, dropping my gear bag and attempting to match the pose of the soldiers, none of whom had even glanced my way. I counted eleven soldiers in the room, not including the colonel, who moved back to the front.

Looks like I’m lucky number twelve.

“Take your seats.” A shuffle of movement, and we all sat down, alert and ready for whatever was to come. The colonel took a remote from his pocket and activated the projection system of the briefing room. The lights dimmed, and the screen at the front of the room lit up with a logo that I would come to know well: the AEGIS shield, with the crossed machete and M1 Garand.

“You have been selected for positions in a covert ops unit, codenamed AEGIS. You all come from various units and services. We’ve got SEALs, Marine Force Recon, Airborne, Delta Force, Air Force Pararescue, Rangers and Green Berets. Warrant officers, sergeants and chiefs. You all have one thing in common: you are the best at what you do. But let me tell you right now, nothing you have been through has adequately prepared you for this assignment.

“This will be a unique assignment for all of you, gentlemen. As you may have noticed, it’s not just every branch represented here; you’re also a mixed-gender team. We need the absolute best, and we cannot afford to ignore quality talent simply because their plumbing is on the inside. This is the one and only time I will say this, so listen up: I expect each and every member of this team to work with the others without regard to their sex. Hooah?”

“Hooah!” shouted the operators.

This was going to take some getting used to.

“AEGIS — known as the Advanced Experimental Genetics Intelligence Service — and its members are the front-line defense against the most fearsome enemy that our country, indeed our world, has ever known,” continued Maxwell.

I shuddered as the colonel spoke, recalling why I was there and what I had seen.
I can’t believe I volunteered for this
, I thought. It was a refrain I was going to repeat over and over in the weeks and years ahead.

“What I’m about to show you is classified above Top Secret.” Maxwell paused to reinforce the seriousness of his statement. “Let me be absolutely clear, gentlemen. If there is any evidence that you have shared what you learn here today with anyone, you will disappear. Permanently.” He stood back, crossing his arms over his chest. “There will be
zero
leaks in my unit.

“If any of you have a problem with that, leave now, and I’ll personally put in your transfer back to your former unit.” I glanced at the others, and none of them moved so much as a muscle. The colonel grunted in approval and nodded. “Very well. The briefing materials on your desk will provide you with additional detail, and you’ll be meeting someone in a moment who can answer any detailed questions you have, but what we’re dealing with here can be summed up in one word. Officially, they’re known as walkers. Unofficially, you know them better as zombies.”

A cough from the other side of the room snapped Maxwell’s head around. “This ain’t a video game, and it ain’t a movie. This is as real as it gets, soldier.” He pressed a button on the remote, and the screen showed a photo of a nightmare: a long-distance shot of three walkers attacking some hapless soul, another in the background chewing on the arm it had just ripped from the man’s body.

It was far too real a photo; too detailed and visceral to be a fake. I swallowed and looked away, only to see the faces of those soldiers around me barely flinch. These hardened career military men and women weren’t used to this sort of thing but they’d been ‘in the shit,’ as they said, and it must’ve helped them get through it.

If they can do it, then so can I. Maxwell said this was going to be tough… I might as well start getting used to it now.

I noticed one of the female soldiers at the back, a tall redhead with long hair and the most intense green eyes I’d ever seen. She looked angry. I wondered why. What was it in her past or her psychological makeup that pissed her off about walkers? It was more than a little nerve-wracking that she didn’t look surprised, not even a little. As if horror movies coming to life were just another day for her.

Spooky.

Maxwell continued with more gruesome pictures. “These were taken just prior to the decision to train our own AEGIS forces.” He paused, pointing to a small town map now displayed by the projector. “This was what Fall Creek, Colorado — not even 125 miles from here — looked like before the walkers got to it.” A few images went by of a pleasant mountain town, obviously culled from some sort of tourist publication. Maxwell pressed another button, and a video started playing. “This is what it looked like when it was all over.”

The devastation was tremendous. The soldiers watched as the video shot from a helicopter played out on the screen. Burning buildings, bodies littering the streets, blood absolutely everywhere. Military vehicles surrounding the city as the picture zoomed out to an overview of the small town. Nothing moved, except the flames. No noise, except the occasional crash as a burning wall fell in. Silence reigned in Fall Creek.

I didn’t watch the whole thing; I didn’t want to.
Of all people
, I thought,
I should watch this. They deserve that much
. But I couldn’t bring myself to see it again. Not now; maybe not ever. I took in the view of the Rockies out of the briefing room window, and thought about those I had known for so long, and would never see again. Even the deep blue of the Colorado skies couldn’t soothe my anguish this time, and I realized I was looking in the direction of what had once been my home town. I sighed and turned back to the video.

The true horror was revealed as the helicopter landed in the park near the town hall. Some of the bodies were whole and appeared to be mostly unharmed; most weren’t. Covered in bite marks and with gore everywhere, these few were all that remained after the town tore itself apart. For most of the victims, this was the literal truth.

As I closed my eyes, remembering the sounds and the panic of those days, I heard a clatter as one of the men on the other side of the room exploded out of his desk and ran to the garbage can near the door, vomiting. I sympathized with him, but I found myself growing cold, almost numb. I stared at the wall and was only somewhat conscious of the soldiers all turning toward me minutes later as the colonel paused the video.

I glanced around at the soldiers looking at me, wondering what was going on, and noticed the video again. There I was, freeze-framed for all eternity as I walked toward a squad of soldiers, my rifle on the ground behind me, my arms raised and hands folded atop my head. I jumped as Maxwell broke the silence.

“Mr. Blake here was the only survivor of the massacre. Fall Creek was once home to nearly fifteen hundred men, women and children. Now, it’s empty. Nothing lives there, and the whole area has been quarantined by us for the foreseeable future due to a ‘toxic spill.’ This was followed by an unfortunate fire that raged out of control and destroyed the town completely.” Colonel Maxwell realized that most of his team was staring at me, and gave me another look — this time one of pity — as he shouted. “Eyes front!