Eastern Front: Zombie Crusade IV (3 page)

The most important factor concerning the pilot was that Barnes held no real leverage over the veteran flyer, since the Warrant Officer had no family under USAMRIID’s control.
He also appeared to have nothing but contempt for USAMRIID and his commanding officer, though Jack could not dismiss the fact that the man had been captured as an active member of the illegitimate government’s military force. Still, the old soldier had been able to answer one of the most important questions during the interrogations—the reason why Barnes couldn’t just round up a new army of infected wherever he went. There were certainly plenty of potential “recruits” everywhere previously populated by people.

The old pilot had
carefully explained, “All armies aren’t the same, son. Yeah, Barnes can round up thousands of the infected and direct them to a populated area, where, of course, they’ll attack the humans in their path. But as I’m sure you’ve learned by now, these monsters aren’t all equal in their abilities. If we just fly over a previously undisturbed area and start gathering flesh-eaters, we get ‘em in all stages of development. They’re also confused, instinctively responding to the signals Barnes designed to attract them, but still wanting to follow the leadership of the alphas of their packs.

“I don’t think the general planned on that problem. The infected are evolving in ways Barnes and his cronies didn’t expect, and the creatures are smarter than anyone thought they’d be, too. The bottom line is that the army General Barnes built along the east coast and brought into Georgia is easily over a hundred thousand strong, and the weak critters are long-gone. The flesh-eaters following USAMRIID’s helicopters are as strong and fast as the human body can be. That vi
rus changed their DNA. They don’t seem to be affected by the weather, and they can run forever on a little bit of fresh, raw meat. There aren’t any packs now; the creatures follow the signals from the choppers with no hesitation. Every one of the bastards has attacked walls and fortifications; they know food’s on the other side and they know how to get to it.

“I suspect it would take Barnes a few months to whip another army of infected into the condition this one is in, and he isn’t exactly the patient type. He’s got a massive killing-machine following his orders without question. They are vicious soldiers who never give up an attack until they’re dead. They can operate at peak efficiency on a few pounds of flesh every few days, with absolutely no other supply needs that I’m aware of. Now that the world’s militaries have spent all of their ordnance fighting the infected in losing battles, Barnes’ force is the most deadly army on the planet.”

Jack had instinctively trusted the old soldier’s explanation, certain that the veteran pilot hated Barnes almost as much as he and Carter did. The clincher came when the video recorders Christy had carefully placed above the prisoners’ holding cell had shown the USAMRIID officer captured with the pilots working to find out what the Warrant Officer had told Jack, and trying to intimidate him into future silence by threats of what Barnes’ people would do to him when they eventually captured this place.

Many of Jack’s people just wanted to string
the captives up, and after all they’d been through since the virus appeared he really couldn’t blame them. He also couldn’t deny that one of his own personal goals in this war was the destruction of Barnes and his rogue Army units. But he suspected that many, if not all, of the helicopter pilots had been ordered to support USAMRIID by the highest levels of authority in the U.S. government, especially since Barnes had been at the president’s side as the crisis developed.

Jack understood that
individual pilots could have chosen to refuse the orders to fly once they began to understand what role their helicopters were playing in the war. He himself had often argued that everyone always has a choice before they act, but in this situation there were many factors to consider before judging the pilots’ actions. Some of them might have genuinely believed that Barnes was enforcing orders given by a legal chain of command to bring “rebel” settlements and forces under government control. Others may have flown the missions because they knew their families would be tortured and killed if they didn’t.

The truth was that Jack
and his people had no way to fairly judge the previous actions of the flight crew now in their custody.  With no clear answer to the problem, former Ranger Todd Evans sat in the co-pilot’s seat with a .45 auto to make sure the Blackhawk safely dropped the team at the landing zone and returned directly to Fort Wayne.   

Satisfied that he had looked everything over and fully considered gear and capabilities one last time, Jack allowed himself the small luxury of accepting that this was the most deadly, powerful,
and experienced group of soldiers he’d ever gone to war with. Their mission seemed almost impossible; scouting several hundred miles of the massive Ohio River, gathering intelligence on enemy movements to the south, all while destroying a number of large bridges. Such a task probably would have been assigned to an infantry battalion in the pre-outbreak world, and Jack was trying to accomplish the mission with just a handful of soldiers. Yet for some reason he felt confident that the tiny group of men sharing the chopper with him would get the job done. They would have to—failure simply wasn’t an option.

Jack’s thoughts were finally interrupted by Todd Evans’ voice comin
g over the headsets, “Twenty minutes out, fellas.”

Everyone but David seemed to register the news. Jack’s younger brother was lost in a world of his own, staring at the same piece of paper he’d been studying
off and on since the group left Fort Wayne. Luke grinned at Jack and tried to snatch the paper from David’s hand. For a man who had appeared so oblivious to his surroundings, David’s reflexes were surprisingly quick. “Back off, boy,” he snapped as Luke managed to retrieve only a small corner of the paper before David tucked the rest into the inside pocket of his jacket.

“I know lawyers love their paperwork, but don’t you think it’s time to focus on the task at hand?” Jack cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. “What’s so fascinating anyway? Christy give you some sort of love letter?”

David opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked thoughtful for a second, rubbed the back of his neck, scowled, then finally replied, “Baby names.”

Luke sounded skeptical, “You have months to figure that out.”

David sighed. “Christy wants a name now. She doesn’t want to keep calling our child ‘the baby’ until it’s finally born.” He looked from Luke to Jack and growled. “Is that okay with you two?”

“Fine by me, Mr. Sensitive.” Jack teased, “I thought the mother-to-be was supposed to be the hormonal one. You’re making me appreciate the fact that I never had any kids.”

David was uncharacteristically speechless for a minute before he shook his head and looked skyward. “Lord, give me the strength not to strangle my know-it-all brother before I figure out the best way to show him just how clueless he really is . . .”

Back in Fort Wayne, Christy was pacing back and forth in front o
f the conference table in a meeting room of what had been the city’s water plant. This building was now referred to as Settlement Headquarters. Hiram Anderson, Deb Wilson, and Sal Martinez were hunched over a map on one end of the table, while a small group of teenagers were whispering in a corner in the back of the room. There were still thousands of hunters just across the river, though any surviving cattle in the area had fled from their predators as fast as they could. The overall number of infected was slowly dwindling as small packs of the creatures had begun to wander southwest along the St. Mary’s River in search of food. Hiram wanted to take advantage of their proximity to so many of the infected and wage what amounted to a guerrilla war; since the settlement was effectively protected by the rivers, they had an unusual opportunity to go on the offensive and still retreat quickly to safety if necessary. Deb and Sal saw the merit of Hiram’s idea, but they were all wrestling with the practical details of implementation. With the most experienced fighters on a mission to stop Barnes, the task of confronting thousands of hunters, who would likely disperse away from the city on their own, seemed both intriguing and impractical.  

While Deb, Sal, and Hiram brainstormed the pros and cons of potential strategies,
Christy couldn’t stop worrying about David and the expedition heading south to try to head off some maniacal general and his allegedly massive army of flesh eaters. “Who’s on radio duty?” she asked loudly enough for the question to be addressed to everyone in the room.

Deb looked up and sighed. “It’s still Andi, just like the l
ast time you asked. Her shift ends in a couple hours.” She took a good look at Christy, and her voice softened. “I know how you feel; Carter’s with them too. If I keep busy, I don’t worry about him every second—if I can work hard at being useful on my end, then I feel like I’m part of the same team.” She walked over to Christy, put her arm around her shoulders, and steered her to a seat. “In the spirit of being useful I have to tell you that you look like hell. You’re white as a sheet, you’ve got big circles under your eyes, your hair is a matted mess, and I can’t remember the last time I saw you eat anything. Your first priority is to take care of yourself and that baby of yours.” She motioned to the teens in the corner, “Gracie, can Jade and Tyler spare you for a while? I’d like you to take Christy to get some food—make sure she eats—then, if she can’t sleep, you two can start coding some potential message options to save us time later. If that doesn’t put her to sleep, nothing will.”

Christy started to object, but Deb interrupted her. “I swear if we hear anything from the team I will find you immediately
.”

Gracie corrected her, “You’ll find us, you mean.” She turned to Christy, “It seems right that we stick together right now. David and Luke are together; they’ll have each other’s backs, so we should do the same.”

“Fine,” Christy conceded, “but they only left a little while ago and I was expecting at least a twenty-four hour reprieve from being told what to do. Do all pregnant women have to put up with well-intentioned micromanagement? David actually left me a list of ‘suggested’ foods and exercises.”

Gracie giggled. “What did you do when he gave you the list?”

“I totally lied and told him I thought it was sweet to put so much thought into taking care of me.” Christy started to tear up. “He just better not let that hero complex get him into trouble on this trip. I could tell there was something weighing on his mind when they left, and I hope he isn’t planning something stupid.”

“Luke will keep a close eye on David,” Gracie reassured her. “Ever since we lost Jerry, David has been like a father to him.”

Christy smiled, “I think David might prefer ‘concerned older brother,’ though he might claim bragging rights for fathering a child in middle school.”

“Guys can really be disgusting,” Gracie observed.

“Hey . . .” Tyler objected from the back of the room.

Jade ran her hand up Tyler’s back, grasped his shoulder, and pulled herself close enough that he could feel her breath on his neck. “Don’t worry Tyler,” she whispered seductively in his ear, “you guys can be awfully cute too.”

No one else could hear what Jade said, but they got the general idea from the dark red flush that bloomed on Tyler’s face.

Gracie stifled a laugh. “Come on, Christy, let’s go eat. I don’t think we’re needed here.”

Christy nodded as she stood, “Yeah, it looks like—” Her sentence cut off as she swooned and reached out to catch her balance before everything went black.

Todd Evans’ voice boomed over the headset once again, “Five minutes out, fellas.”

Jack turned to David, “You got any more prayers for us? We’re about to implement your clueless brother’s Plan A.”

“Well, you’re not totally clueless,”
David observed. “I think you’ve got this war business down well enough; it’s women you’ve always had trouble figuring out.”

“I must disagree, little brother. I figured out a long time ago that I wasn’t gonna let anybody boss me around.” He winked at Luke. “
When Christy says jump, all he can think about is ‘how high’ . . .”

“I just don’t know what happened to the fearless warrior I followed to Indiana,” Luke mockingly added with a mournful face.

“Hey, you’re the one all cuddled up with your love-bunny every night,” David retorted. “And Jack’s the same way with Andi. Both of you act like lost little puppies when your women are around.”

Carter jumped into the fray over the headsets, “Don’t worry, David, they’ll be gettin’ the cure to all that snugglin’ and smoochin’ soon enough. If we can keep ‘em alive long enough, that is.”

David actually guffawed into his mike, “That’s right! When are you two lover-boys gonna marry your lovely, deadly ladies?”

Jack waited for the laughter to subside before cracking, “At least I made it into my thirties before settling down. You latched on to Christy in college when she was too young and naïve to know what she was in for—at least she was smart enough to put off marrying you until you’d proved what an obedient lap-dog you could be.”

Da
vid smiled before replying, “Keep talking smack; it’ll just be that much funnier when I see you and Luke living as husbands instead of rootless Vikings. You’re gonna learn that it’s a lot harder for two people to make a decision than one.”