Day One (Book 2): Choices Page 5
His eyes moved to my gun. My heart, which should have been pumping like a pipeline, was beating normally. Apparently the anger that coursed through my veins kept me cool, calm and collective. He was slowly inching his way toward the holster on his right hip.
“Even untrained, at this distance, I can easily get you before you ever get that sidearm out of the holster,” I explained.
The Man slowly put both hands in the air. “Are you sure about that?”
“Turn around and march right out that door,” I told him. “Or we’ll put that theory of yours to the test and see how it really works out!”
As instructed, the Man turned and marched out of the mobile unit, giving me a few seconds to myself to take another look at the turned soldier. “You poor bastard. I don’t know what happened to you, but keeping you this way, like some kind of caged animal, is no way to exist. Dead or not.”
I exited the mobile unit to find Andrews standing next to the tall Man. I still held the Beretta freely and smiled as I approached and stopped. “If any of your men try anything with me or my Daughter again, like this dickhead just tried, I’ll shoot them where they stand!” I walked away.
The Tall Man, unsatisfied at the lack of words between Andrews and I, yelled at me to stop. “Stop right there!”
I spun and pointed the gun directly at his face. “Raise your voice to me one more time and see what happens… I dare you!”
“Do you see what I mean, sir?” The Tall Man said.
“Why are you pointing a weapon at my XO?” Andrews asked.
“Ask your XO while I’m standing here and let’s see what he has to say.”
Andrews turned to his XO and after a few seconds of silence the XO shrugged his shoulders, as if he had no idea what had taken place. Looking back at me, Andrews asked nicely. “Can you please put that weapon away before someone accidentally gets shot?”
Given the situation I had just been exposed to, not to mention the fact that I was a guest of Captain Andrews, I was hesitant at first, but slowly lowered and holstered my handgun. He smiled, and then turned his full attention to the XO. “Now answer the man’s question.”
The XO looked as if he’d been betrayed. His eyes glared at me, although took on a more relaxed gaze toward Andrews. “He was bitten and given the information we have gathered over the last week, it’s a good possibility that he is infected and could turn at any moment. So I took him to the tank to see how spot would react to him,” he said without remorse.
“Spot?” I asked. “So you are keeping him as a pet? Even got him named after a dog as well. How fucking cute.”
Andrews looked at me trying his best to keep cool. “Private Dennison, found himself in a very dangerous situation. One that he was unable to escape from, therefore he was bitten and is now what you just saw,” he explained to me. “The unfortunate slang words given to him by his counterparts, I agree are very distasteful and extremely childish, but nonetheless, he is still one of them now and a danger to us all.”
“Tell me something I don’t already know, Captain,” I responded harshly. “There seems to be a great deal of distasteful and childish bullshit that goes on around here, as well as out there in the world. But still that is no excuse to keep a former soldier caged up, treated like, and named after a damn dog. Would you like that if it was you in there?”
“I understand your anger after viewing something that would be considered an outrage had none of this took place, however, I see to it that he is not used like an animal and only on display for everyone to see, so that they are fully aware of what can happen to them if they screw up the slightest bit out there.” He took a few deep breaths, trying his best to shake the obvious strands of anger loose. “All of these men have sacrificed more than you could ever imagine to keep this unit alive and going. We are the first and last line of defense any of those survivors out there have, which means in order to keep from cracking under the great pressure, they have to have a way to release steam every now and then.”
“Captain Andrews, these men are not the only ones that face death every single day. I face it, my daughter faces it, yet neither of us get our rocks off making fun of someone that we used to know, who we now have caged up like some god damned zoo pet to throw rocks at after having a shitty day,” I said fiercely. “Do I understand any of this, no I do not, nor is it my place to sit here and tell a full grown man how to run his unit. But when one of those men tries to label me as something I am not, then threatens bodily harm… that’s where I draw the line!”
Andrews was stunned at my last strain of words and looked to his XO. “This man threatened you?”
“Now wait just a minute here,” The XO began but Andrews swiftly cut him off.
“I will get to you in a moment!”
“Had I not pulled my weapon due to the fear of that thing coming through the glass at me, you would probably be having an altogether different conversation with him about how I was accidentally shot, or perhaps I suddenly turned after all this time and attacked him.”
“Is what he saying true? And let me remind you that I do not take kindly to those under my command who, lie, steal, and threaten others by using the rank upon that uniform you are currently wearing,” Andrews said in a harsh tone.
“He’s infected! We know it, he knows it and something has to be done to keep the rest of us safe,” the XO stated in a professional, yet loud voice, as if to call the attention of everyone nearby.
“So you take it upon yourself to be his judge, jury, and executioner based solely on information that has yet to be proven?” Andrews asked.
“That’s how spot…”
“Private Dennison,” I corrected him.
“That’s what happened to him and look where he is now, sir. We have proof that a bite from one of those things is powerful enough to turn you into one of them. Why am I the only one that gets that?”
“It took Dennison, after the attack, a whole day to turn,” Andrews added.
“We don’t know that for sure, sir. He was attacked that morning and the rest of his squad fell back as commanded. When they went out the next day, that’s when he was spotted and arrangements were made to capture him,” the XO explained. “He could easily have turned in a matter of hours.”
“Where you there to witness the turn and watch the exact amount of time?” Andrews asked the XO.
“No, sir. I was here on base the whole time.”
“Exactly. Which means you have no proof how long the process takes, however, we are certain that within a twenty-four hour period, Private Dennison went from a living, breathing human into what we see now, correct?”
The XO nodded in agreement.
Andrews looked at me. “How long ago were you bitten?
“Like I already told him. I was bitten by my six year old step-daughter over a week ago, which puts your myth to rest dickhead! I am very much alive, just like the rest of you.”
“Remove the XO’s weapon and confine him to his quarters until further notice,” Andrews said to the other men with him. They quickly disarmed him and led him away as we both watched. When he was gone, Andrews took another look at me and with a hand on my shoulder he apologized for what the man had done to me and reassured me that it would never happen again.
“Maybe this place isn’t right for us,” I said. Maybe my daughter and I should just move on and find somewhere we can fit in better without drawing any unwanted attention.”
“Good luck with that,” he said.
We stood there for several long moments, neither of us saying anything as the awkward silence grew into a vast crevasse miles deep and hundreds of yards wide. I simply smiled and began walking away… find your son without hurting my men. The sound of power tools blaring from nowhere, and then abruptly dying away, forced me to stop and look over my shoulder. Captain Andrews was walking the opposite direction.
Had I just heard those words for real, or had my mind made them up and screamed them to me with the barrage of tool
s echoing like howitzers at point blank range? I watched him until he disappeared from sight, yet couldn’t bring myself to turn and continue. I had to know if I was hearing things or not. It was imperative.
With the sun slowly slipping from the sky and my need to know the truth still burning in my head like a stone in a fire, I traversed the options, knowing somehow deep down that if he had spoken those words to me; it had been for a reason and just amongst us. Any attempts to question him in front of his men would only lead to Johnny and I being detained.
Captain Andrews would not look like an idiot in front of his men, hell, I led no one and I wouldn’t want to look that way myself. I took it with a grain of salt, as one might say, and headed back to the room.
When the darkness began, Johnny and I stepped outside to go over the plan one last time, adding anything we may have forgotten and doing our best to pump each other up.
“When this thing kicks off, you are going to be the eyes and ears of this whole plan,” Johnny said taking the cigarette I offered him and lighting it. “Because for sixty long seconds, both of my hands are going to be busy working the starter and initiating fuel into the turbine at the right moment, so I’ll be useless to you when they come running. And they will, as that turbine, when igniting, makes a very distinct and very loud noise.”
I took a drag of my cigarette and listened carefully to his every word.
“In the event of a hot start, it’s going to add another sixty seconds to our time.”
“A hot start?” I asked.
He looked at me, apparently trying to dumb the answer down. “That’s when the aircraft has a problem and won’t start in the allotted time, due to overheating or some other mechanical problem,” he said.
“Great. More wonderful news,” I sarcastically said. The whole plan was starting to fall apart and we haven’t even initiated it yet. I began to think that maybe we should just leave on foot. We had night vision capabilities now and with Kember asleep, we could move silently through the woods, avoiding any of those things and shooting the ones we couldn’t with silenced weapons.
“Hey,” Johnny said, calling my attention. “We still have a shot at this. I’m not going to lie and say those birds start perfect every time, but there’s also the fact that it’s a military bird, so maintenance on it is extremely thorough.”
He did know more about this stuff than I did and with a lack of worry upon his face, maybe I shouldn’t let it bother me until there was something to worry about. “So, what you’re saying is that I’m on my own for a minute or two while you start the helicopter, right?”
“Yes, you will be unless things get to hot, in which case I’ll cut in and we can resort to the second plan,” he said and moved closer to me. “If that happens, then the proverbial shit has hit the fan, in which case we won’t have a choice in defending ourselves… and you know what that means.”
Yeah, I knew what that meant. It meant that when the plan actually fell apart we would have to kill these young men who were at the moment keeping us safe. I didn’t like the idea, in fact; I hated it more than this new world we were all lost in. I wasn’t a killer; it just wasn’t within me to take another’s life outside of self-defense, and all the justification in the universe could not tell me any different. I’m sorry, but I value human life, and it isn’t my place to judge or execute you, especially in a selfish act.
The decision I would make in the next twenty minutes would more than likely determine weather or not I got to stick to my so called guns, or be forced to use them and become that which I loathed the most.
“I need to hear you say it, Brandon. I can’t for the life of me take another step forward in this plan if you aren’t even going to bother to shoot back and get done what needs to be done,” Johnny stated and took another drag of his cigarette.
I looked long and hard at the man before me, thinking even harder on what he was asking me to do. How do you answer that? I mean how do you answer a question that you know is morally against everything you stand for, is against everything you believe in whole heartedly? How do you do it?
Everything hinged upon me and my next round of words.
Even in the light of day the base was not a bad place to live. There was food, shelter, others, but most importantly, in a world where there were no more guarantees or sure things… there was safety, or at least a better sense of the word than out there. And I was about to give all of that up, and for what? Yet there are two sides to every story. And the base was run by many people that I had not had the pleasure of meeting, some that I had, oh and there was also the base pet. A young private who had somehow or another found a way to get himself bit and then turned. He was treated like an animal. A caged monkey for everyone to laugh at on a bad day, without one single thought that he had been one of them.
If they could treat their own that way, without mercy and compassion. How could they treat me and my Daughter, complete strangers, any better?
“If it comes down to it… if things get too close for comfort, then I’ll shoot to keep Kember safe,” I said in a hollow voice, unable to believe what I had just agreed too.
Johnny placed a hand on my shoulder. “I know what you’re going through. I was once in your exact shoes and the thought of taking another human’s life didn’t sit well with me. I’m not going to lie and tell you that it gets any easier, because it doesn’t. You just learn to deal with it better. In the end, no matter how you want to look at it or justify it, it’s still the taking of another life.”
I watched the barely visible skyline of that far distant city as it burned, trying to imagine what the poor people were facing, what they had been through so far, and what was still to come.
“All I can do is hope that God forgives me,” Johnny added.
I didn’t know how to respond to his recent words, although I realized now that he understood me a little better and knew I wasn’t scared, even though I was.
“Take some time to gather your thoughts, clear you head, or whatever else you need to do,” he said looking to his watch. “They’ll start eating here in about twenty minutes and that’s when we are going to go for it.” He smiled and walked away.
I continued to watch the burning city as I finished my cigarette and snuffed it out. My little world had been confined for a week now, so much that I had forgotten about all of those who had not been able to get away. Maybe they had thought that it would all blow over in a few days and there was no real danger, no need to flee. Every choice we made on a daily basis, back then, helped us to become better people. Even if you hadn’t done things right, there was always that choice to change. That life had taught us nothing, yet some of us were able to adapt to the new one. Some weren’t or just unwilling too.
I was still trying to live in that world and base my choices off of something that no longer was. Why could I not change even with the truth staring me straight in the face?
“For the love of God, just shut the hell up,” I told my mind. I had thought more than enough for one day – probably more than enough for several months to be honest, maybe even a lifetime.
The sun was now gone. Gleaming stars were slowly beginning to burn brightly above as the moon rose to take the suns position. The darkness was eerily quiet, still and infinite.
Kember sat on the head of my bed drinking a juice box and eating a small microwavable sandwich. She was dressed and ready to go, as Johnny and I donned the gear and equipment I had gotten from the armory earlier. He helped me put things on the correct way, got my drop holster to sit where I wanted it, all while the small camera over the door had been taped over. If we spoke, it was to Kember and had nothing to do with what we were getting ready to do. More than likely if there was audio it would still record, so we were not about to take any chances.
Dressed, I stepped outside to smoke and make sure that no one was around when we got ready to go. If any guards were nearby, they’d have to be dealt with before we could move to the next phase of the plan.
Chapter Four.
I watched Johnny move silently through the darkness to my right. He was low to the ground and scanned with his eyes as he moved, like a predator on the hunt for prey. When he reached a small bundle of crates he stopped and took up a firing position. It was now my turn to move and I could taste the fear in the back of my throat. It was insipidus and I gagged on it.
The art of planning held a mystery all its own, although there were no consequences in that part of the plan. You could perpetuate as much as you wanted, come up with several different scenarios that could happen, and figure them out with time. But on the run with the consequences hanging over you like a noose, there was no time to think if something went wrong, only your instincts to guide you.
I froze.
Johnny motioned for me to advance and all I could do was look at him. My eyes were glazed over and like an animal crossing a busy highway, I had been spotted by approaching lights, which would not swerve to miss me. The fear of death was holding me by the shoulder and I could smell its foul breath.
Don’t do this, not now! This is not the time to freeze up! My mind shouted to me. Your son is out there all alone, remember? Now stop cowering in the corner and let’s go! I burst from cover, low to the ground and scanning ahead of me, trying to cover as much distance as I could, yet do it in a manner that would not wake Kember. I had her secured in my backpack behind two layers of body armor, so if they started shooting at me I could simply face the threat and keep her as far out of harm’s way as I could. Of course that wasn’t as far as I would like, it was still better than leaving her behind.