A mockingbird somewhere over our heads let out a shrill cry that jerked me awake from a disturbing dream I was having. My head was raised and my ears strained to listen for any sound. I looked around from my prone position in my hammock and saw that Maggie and James were still in theirs, apparently still sleeping. It was still dark out but I could make out a faint lightening of the sky through the trees around us, I guessed it was near dawn. I relaxed and let my head fall back on my pillow and my eyes shut of their own accord.
Two seconds later there was a bright light and a loud bang that shocked me back to full wakefulness. Before I knew it, I had unclipped the biner that held me into the hammock and found myself on the floor of the platform, in a crouch and already was reaching for my sidearm, which I placed on top of my pack just a few feet away from where I slept.
“Maggie?” I called out and she replied in a low voice that still carried. Experience, given via combat in a hot-zone, “quiet!” she hissed. I moved towards the edge of the platform in the direction of where the claymore went off, somewhere off to our left. “Freeze!” Maggie's voice nailed me to the spot. I looked over at her and as I did so another bright light and an even louder bang went off to our right. I was looking right at her, was both surprised and not surprised to see her holding a large rifle to her shoulder, mounted with a huge starlight scope. She had her head turned away from the bright light of the flash, so she wasn't blinded by the magnification of the scope. Almost immediately she looked back through it and scanned the area.
My eyes re-adjusted, I saw in the dim light that James was scanning a different sector with a pair of hand-held night vision binoculars. I told myself that I would have to try and raid a military base at the first chan-- BAM! Another claymore went off. Shit, how many did this lady have anyway? This one went off to the left of us again, only a little closer. With three of them already detonated in a widely spaced area and in a short amount of time, it meant only one thing to me. Somewhere out there a herd was headed our way.
I ignored her early command to freeze and moved in a crouch over to where she held her position. She was still scanning in short left to right sweeps with the scope mounted on what I now saw was a sniper's rifle and a suppression muzzle at the end. Despite what Hollywood showed us, “the silencer” actually does very little to muffle the report of a large bore rifle, however; it does help in concealing where the shot came from. I whispered to her, “how many do you see?”
She was all business, for all I knew she was back among the hills in Afghanistan with the Taliban trying to creep up on our position. Yet what was unsettling, was the fact that the “enemy” out there was far deadlier than any insurgents. “I'm counting roughly 12 over by the left flank and 8 more on the right. The claymores took out a few, but there were a lot that weren't killed, just blown to bits,” basically meaning, the remaining pieces were still animated, particularly the torsos with heads attached, which could still bite. She continued, “the ones still standing will be within the secondary perimeter in about 25 seconds.”
She then turned to her son and did some complicated one handed signing which he returned grimly before looking back through his own glasses. “He says he sees about 7 and a large group out beyond them...” she paused and was about to add something but shook her head and continued looking through her scope at the left flank.
“Those bastards over there are closer. They seem disoriented but they're still moving in our direction. Prepare to evac.” she stated firmly. I was about to ask if our position would be defensible, but her tone dictated that it was not. We would be trapped on the platform until we starved to death. I wasn't sure about how much ammo they had, but I knew I couldn't even come close to picking off as many as there were out there. I got up and moved over to my pack, got my things ready. I set my sword's scabbard in a position on my pack where I could draw it quickly if need be. I was already done and ready to go but I knew they would want my help with their own supplies.
I was about to ask what else could I grab to take with us when she turned and fell to the floor shouting “GET DOWN!!”, I fell flat on my stomach without thinking.
A second later a huge boom went off very close to us, the tarp above us pattered loudly with falling debris. Hell, she placed an explosive so close to the platform? Gutsy, but in my opinion not too bright. I looked up and saw that she had already gotten back to her former kneeling position and was studying the damage caused by her recent booby-trap. The rifle barked, once, twice. Then she stood and turned to James and waved wildly to get his attention, when he saw her she signed quickly in three gestures and the boy moved over to one end of the platform and began pulling out a wooden box and opening it.
I got up and stood there feeling like an idiot. Whatever contingency plan these two had, it sure as hell didn't include me helping them out. They moved like they've been practicing or drilling on it for a while now. I walked over to where James was and was kind of grateful for the increase of dawn light, which would prevent me from tripping over anything. I looked in the box that he had opened and quickly removing items from. My jaw dropped. There were several pre-loaded magazines of ammo stacked on top of each other on one side of the box, the other end had an open egg-crate, made of wood full of grenades, these the boy was grabbing and stuffing in his pockets as fast as he could. He left about three in the crate and went over to his mother, and began removing the round deadly objects out of his pockets as quickly as he put them in. Maggie grabbed one and pulled the pin and chucked it hard into the woods beyond, she didn't even bother to duck as she picked up another, armed it and tossed it. Her aim was pretty good, she managed to get the grenades out far enough without hitting any trees which might have bounce it right back to us.
Couple seconds later the woods were lit up by one explosive bang followed by several more right behind it. James had already unloaded his pockets and was headed back to the box, this time he started grabbing ammo clips. He looked up at me, pointed behind me and made a fierce gesture, “guns!” he said. Maggie kept chucking grenades out into the trees.
I turned and saw that a corner of the platform was covered by a blanket, I pulled at it and revealed an astonishing array of rifles. Standard hunting rifles all with scopes, four others of what appeared to be AR-15's and a couple of what I think were grenade launchers. I started to grab one and Maggie's voice called out to me. “Leave it! We don't have enough ammo for it.” I turned as she threw her last grenade in the woods. A loud bang once again rendered anything I might've asked moot. I got my hands on two of the automatic rifles and turned to James who reached for them.
He set one down on the floor and with the other, drew back the bolt and checked the barrel. Then grabbed a magazine from the box and put it in and had the weapon ready to fire in seconds. In spite of how quickly he worked he still took the time to check the safety to see if it was on. He set that down and picked up the other and did the same. I turned around and grabbed two more and held them out to him. For the first time he grinned at me, it wasn't pretty. There was a look of fierceness that I didn't like in a boy that young. As if he had been trained for combat all his life and was now looking forward to it with too much eagerness. I made a quick mental note to bring it to his mother's attention if we got out of the fix we were getting deeper into.
Maggie's rifle was barking with increasing frequency. Which meant the zombies were getting closer. Within moments he had the other two rifles ready to go and picked them up by their barrels, handing them back to me. Then, he grabbed the remaining two and slung both over on one shoulder. I got the message, we weren't going to stand and fight on the platform, just have the guns ready for when we hit the ground, hopefully running. I would find out in a few moments, that Maggie and son were far better prepared than I had any right to expect. I slung off my pack and quickly unbuckled straps on either side that would adequately hold the rifles securely when I put the pack back on.
In a moment Maggie was at my side and reaching into the ammo box and filling a large pouch with pre-loaded magazines. Once she had the bag filled, she closed it and secured the cover. Then glanced up and around her for a moment with a look of sadness, as if she didn't expect to see their home away from home again. Her eyes caught mine and returned to the business of evacuating in a hurry. “You ready to go?” I was kind of lost for a second and shrugged, “sure I guess so, now what?” it said. She grinned and pointed behind me, where James had already lowered two thick ropes to the side.
“When you hit the ground, James will know where to go, follow him and I'll be on your ass as soon as I prep the charges.” My eyes flew open wide? Charges? Did she mean the platform was rigged? We were sleeping on a bomb? What the hell did I get myself into with this woman and her kid?
I turned around and saw that James was leaning back on one of the ropes and was waiting for me to join him on the free hanging one. “John,” Maggie's voice got me to turn around again, and she was holding a pair of thin gloves out to me. “You might want to use these. You ever fast-roped?”
My reply was cut off by a scream of a zombie as it blundered into one of the inner-booby traps. Morbid curiosity wanted to see what type it was but I shook it off when I saw Maggie's expectant look. “Uh, I've rappelled before, but not fast roped, but I know what you're talking about.” She nodded as if she expected such an answer. “It's just like rappelling only you hold the rope with your feet as well as your hands. Don't squeeze too tightly with either or you won't move. Just slide down and just like rappelling, you'll squeeze the rope to slow down before you hit the ground. Okay?”
I knew that was about all the lesson I was going to get on fast-roping techniques, because she had already turned and was walking to the far end of the platform. I saw her bend down to one knee and work on something. Crap, it had to be setting the primers for the charges. I turned and went over to where James was impatiently waiting. I reached out and grabbed the rope and hung on with both hands. As I swung out, I managed to grip the rope with my feet and now I was dangling free from the platform. I looked down and James was already disengaging himself from the rope and un-slinging a rifle, putting it to his shoulder then dropped to one knee. He sighted the area in front of him moving it in a short arc left to right. Damned if the kid didn't look like a pro. I relaxed my grip on the rope and found myself moving.
Moving a bit too quickly. The additional weight of my pack, the guns had forced me to grab the rope tightly again, but it sang through my fists and I swore I saw a wisp of smoke before my feet hit the ground. Luckily my rappelling experience had me bending my knees as my weight continued to drive me further down to the ground and I was able to end up on my knees. I let go of the rope and caught myself with my hands as I fell forward to the ground. I looked up and back behind me and saw that James looking at me over the sights of his rifle and was shaking his head in a gesture that could only be interpreted as “Oh brother!” I must've just missed his eyes rolling.
I got back up to a squat position and pulled my sidearm and cocked it. I could see about 20 yards ahead, a pair of zombies were stumbling towards us. One of them looked like it had an arm missing. I took aim on the nearest one, but before I could squeeze the trigger, something large swung down from the left and caught the pair and lifted them up and out of our sight. A moment later they swung back down again, impaled by a large log embedded with spikes, they arched back up the opposite direction. Sheesh these two had been busy with their defenses. It made me glad that I didn't stumble into these woods alone before meeting them.
There was a thud behind me and James stood up and turned, I did the same, nearly aiming my weapon at Maggie before lowering it. “Maggie had a stern look in her face. “Okay,” she began and was signing at the same time, “they're already inside, we gotta go. James you know what to do.” It wasn't a question. The boy nodded and slung his rifle back over his shoulder and took off running, down a faint trail between the trees. As soon as he was out of sight, Maggie grabbed my arm and pulled me to her. I didn't expect the next thing.
Her mouth was on mine in a hard kiss. It lasted for about ten seconds before my mouth tasted air again. I stood there blinking in surprise, then grinned. “ Was that for luck?” She shook her head, “nope, that was a promise. Lets go, we've got 1 minute before the platform blows... that'll catch most of the zombies.” I looked out from beyond the platform and could see the moving shapes of the herd coming closer, a few were close enough to make out details. She held up a different smaller bag. “These, should get the rest.” She turned and walked casually in the direction that her son went. I was a step behind her, my lips still tingling from her kiss.
Trying to not think about it, I asked her what was in the bag. She held it up again and gave it a gentle shake. “Just a pair of M-86's” she said in a manner as if it were nothing special. I shook my head in wonder.
I had no idea what she was talking about but I had a feeling it would also go off with an impressive bang. “And just what are a pair of M-86's if you don't mind telling me?” I tried to keep my voice as casual as hers, but I detected a trembler none-the-less. I was still shaken up by the rude awakening and all the noise of the last 10 minutes. She turned her head and kept walking and grinned at me.
“Zombie deterrents” was the only answer she gave me, then stepped up to a trot. I stayed close behind her. We followed the trail that James went down, it wound around a bit before coming to a clearing.
My jaw dropped again as I saw James sitting on one of two large ATV's. I couldn't repress a chuckle of admiration. Strapped to the back and front of both were bundles of what had to be pre-packed supplies. On the ground near him was a crumpled pile of tarp material in a camo-pattern. Both vehicles were pointed away from us, he stood beside one of them, waiting for us. He didn't look anxious at all, as if we had all the time in the world.
As I approached the unmounted vehicle James held out his hand and shook it in a negative gesture. I stopped and before I could ask there was a huge BOOM back behind us. I instinctively ducked while Maggie strode over to the other ATV and unslung her pack and put the smaller of the two she carried on the ground before stacking the other on-top of the bundle already mounted on the front rack of the ATV.
Again, I stood there like a fifth wheel waiting to see if I get to go along or was going to be left behind. Maggie had her back turned to James, speaking as she worked at strapping her pack to the rear of the vehicle. “I'm afraid you're going to have to get on with James. Remember he's still protective and he'd probably wouldn't like it as much as I would, you riding behind me holding on to my waist.”
I nodded without replying and moved over to the boy. I pointed at the ATV handlebars, pointed at me and him and hoped that it conveyed I was asking who would be driving. The boy scoffed openly and swung his leg over the gas tank and straddled the seat closest to the front. He scooted up to make room. I'll bet anything that it was reluctant too.
I took my pack off and placed it on top of the bundle in the back and managed to find long enough straps to undo and redo that would hold it in place. I had no idea of how rough of a ride we would be in.
When I was finished, I turned to Maggie who was kneeling down by the smaller pack she had that contained the mysterious M-86's. She pulled one out and I saw that it looked like a triangular shaped grenade only slightly larger than her hand. She glanced up, but not at me but at the trail behind us. There were sounds coming out of the woods and getting louder were not conductive to relaxing moments. She fiddled with the device for a moment then tossed it away from her landing it at the edge of the clearing from which we came. The device tumbled and then rested. What it did next surprised me, there was a loud click and small projectiles sprang out from it radiating in a tight circle a few feet away from the device. I could now see the projectiles were attached to some thin wires that went back into the device itself. As I turned to ask Maggie about it she had already gotten the second device and had it tossed just a few feet away from the first. One of the wires landed close to the ATV.
I called out as she moved and stepped on the wire, she turned her head and smiled at me. “Don't worry, I put a 45 second timer delay on the wires, mount up, we're outta here.” She hopped aboard her ATV and turned the key starting the engine. I turned and climbed awkwardly behind James on his as his engine roared to life. I took a quick glance behind us and saw the first of the zombies through the trees. A second later we were tearing through the remainder of the woods and out into an open field. I waited and was rewarded with two loud explosions behind us, I turned in my seat and saw trees go down in the clearing we were just in. I imagined seeing body parts go flying as well, but more-n-likely they were tree limbs. I turned back in my seat and tried to find something to hang on to besides the lanky boy sitting in front of me as he followed closely behind his mother's ATV. I had a feeling that he was trying to find every single bump and rise to hopefully knock me off the vehicle and then continue on saying that he didn't hear me fall off. All things considered, if he known what just happened between his mother and I, he'd have a damned good excuse.
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