A World Apart (Part 1): 8,000 Miles Read online

  Several minutes later, she felt the truck dip again as someone climbed in to grab her. She was roughly pulled from her seated position up to her feet. The man that was guiding her didn’t throw her to the ground like the men, but instead guided her down as he stepped down with her. They stepped away from the truck a few feet and then stopped. The bag was pulled from her head. It took a few seconds to adjust her vision to the suddenly brighter light. There was a man standing in front of her, holding her with one hand by the arm. He was covered in the same white dust she remembered from the ambushers at the exit lane. He was looking her in the eyes with this lewd grin on his face. He then reached up and brushed some strands of her hair out of her face and behind her ear. Angie pulled her head to the side to avoid his touch and glared at him with disgust. That action earned her a quick slap to the face. He then turned her and started ushering her forward again.

  Angie took the opportunity to look around and get a feel for her surroundings. They had been brought to an industrial cement factory. She remembered the sign they saw on their way in. There were giant piles of white dust spread around the grounds of the factory as well as huge pits where the stuff had been excavated. There were large bulldozers parked here and there, as well as other heavy construction vehicles. The factory itself was a large metal building with conveyors protruding out and down towards the different piles of concrete dust and the pits where the dust was excavated. There were also two large silos attached to the main building on one end. Large windows could also be seen on the wall facing Angie’s direction. Angie winced as she noticed a body, hanging by the neck from one of the conveyors, she thought it might be a woman. She looked back to Jerry’s truck and saw several men rifling through it and removing their supplies. The supplies were hauled off into a small shed, a few hundred feet away from the main building. Angie was moving slowly as she looked around, but was quickly nudged in the back, the man guiding her was driving her in the direction of the main factory. She was terrified for herself and the others, especially Sam.

  ***

  The men pushed Jerry through a door and slammed it behind him. He stumbled to the floor of the structure and rolled onto his back. He was still tied and gagged and the bag still covered his head. He sat up and pushed with his legs until his back came in contact with a hot metal wall. He couldn’t see a thing, but could hear someone else shuffling around and struggling like he was. He shook his head vigorously trying to dislodge the bag over his head, but it was no use. A moment later, he heard the door open again, then a small yelp and thud followed. The door was slammed shut again. The new addition was crying and he recognized that it was Sam. The crying turned into sniffling. Jerry tried to get Sam’s attention with a series of incoherent mumbles. He heard the little feet shuffling his way. Then the bag was lifted from his head. Sam had recognized his grandpa somehow and came to him. Sam wrapped his arms around Jerry’s neck and sobbed into his shoulder. Jerry laid his head against the boy’s, trying to give him some comfort.

  Jerry looked around the room. He saw Derek was there, struggling with his bindings as well, but still with the bag on his head. He saw another man in the corner, bound in the same fashion, but unmoving. Jerry tried to communicate with Sam by nodding with his head and looking in Derek’s direction. After a bit of confusion, it looked like Sam got the message. He walked over to Derek and removed the bag from his head. Derek looked at Sam, and then at Jerry and nodded his appreciation. Sam walked back over to his grandpa and tried desperately to remove the tape from his mouth with his tiny hands. He couldn’t get it off. Derek looked around the room and spotted a metal screw, sticking through the sheet metal wall, that had missed the stud. He backed up towards it and went to work trying to use the threads to saw through the zip tie bindings that secured his hands behind his back. Jerry took his cue and looked for another screw, to try and remove his own bindings. He spotted one and tried to move to it, but by this time, Sam had wrapped him back up in a hug. He didn’t want to hurt Sam by trying to scuttle over to the screw, so he just waited to see if Derek would have any success.

  After several minutes, Derek’s zip tie cuffs snapped. His hands came around to the front and he started pulling the tape off his face. Once he was free of the gag, he reached into his right boot where he had a small pocket knife concealed. He moved over to Jerry at a crouch and cut his bindings and the tape around his face. Jerry was free in a few seconds. “Thanks Derek.” Jerry said. “Sam, are you okay?” He asked his grandson.

  “I’m okay, Grandpa.” Sam replied.

  “Did you see where they took your mommy?” Jerry asked him. Sam shook his head to the left and right, then started to sniffle once again. “It’s okay Sam. We are going to find her.” He assured the young boy.

  Derek wadded up the sack that he removed from his head and used it as a makeshift bandage for his gunshot wound. The bullet had gone clean through his shoulder. He put the bandage, with Jerry’s help, on the exit wound. They used some of the duct tape to secure it in place and put another piece of the tape over the entry wound. It wasn’t perfect, but would at least slow, if not stop, his bleeding. Derek then moved to the door and was looking through the cracks, trying to get an idea of their situation. Jerry went to the unmoving man. He removed the bag from the man’s head and saw that he was young, probably in his twenties. One of his eyes was swollen and discolored. It appeared that he had taken a beating. He put his fingers on the man’s neck, trying to feel for a pulse. “He’s alive.” He told Derek. “Give me your knife.”

  Jerry cut the man free and moved him into a more comfortable position in the middle of the floor. He lightly slapped the man, trying to bring him back to consciousness. After a moment, the man’s eyes opened slowly. Once he became aware that there was a strange man standing over him, he started to slide back frantically using his hands and feet. “Get away from me, don’t hurt me!” The man screamed.

  Jerry rushed to cover his mouth with his hand, then gestured with his other hand for the man to be quiet. “We aren’t going to hurt you.” Jerry tried to assure him. “We are prisoners, just like you. How long have you been in here?” Jerry asked the man.

  “I’m not sure.” The man replied. “At least a couple of days. I was traveling with my brother and his wife when we fell into their trap. They took me and my brother to this shed, but we didn’t see his wife at all after we were taken. They took my brother out of here yesterday. I haven’t seen him since.” The man explained.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” Jerry told the man. “Look, we have to figure a way out of here. They took my daughter-in-law too, and who knows where. Maybe we can find your brother and his wife as well, if we can get free.” Jerry looked to Derek. “What do you see out there Derek?”

  “There is one of those powdery looking sons of bitches sitting in a chair with a rifle.” Derek reported. “He is facing this way, but doesn’t seem all that attentive. This must be a normal day for them, to take prisoners like this, he is too damned relaxed.”

  “You see any of the other men, or Angie?” Jerry asked.

  “No.” He answered. “There is a big factory building behind that guard, I can’t see anything around it, but I think that is the direction we came from after they got us out of the truck.”

  “Alright.” Jerry began to formulate a plan. He looked around the shed and focused his attention on the back wall. “We should try to pry up this sheet metal, on the back wall there, and maybe we can sneak up on that guard. Put that pocket knife of yours right in his ear.”

  “Okay.” Derek agreed.

  “You feel up to helping me work on this back wall?” Jerry asked the unknown man.

  “I think so.” The man answered.

  “Okay then. Derek, you keep an eye on that guard while we go to work.” Jerry said. With that, Jerry and the other man moved to the back wall.

  ***

  Angie was led inside the big factory. There was a lot of equipment, here and there, on different platforms at different
levels. A large open area was in the middle of the building and she saw several beds and cots about the floor. She saw at least six men around the factory floor, most of them lounging on the cots and beds. Then she noticed some cages off to the right side of the main floor. She saw two women were laying on the floor of the cages. Their clothes were bedraggled and blood soaked, she couldn’t tell if they were alive. The man that was guiding her pushed her in front of a man that was standing in the middle of the open area. Even though he was covered in the white dust, she recognized him as the man that was giving the orders, when they were first taken.

  “Welcome to my home.” He announced to her. “My name is Joshua.” He gestured around the room with his arms. “And these are my disciples, loyal to a man.”

  The man behind Angie removed the tape that was around her mouth and then cut the zip ties that bound her wrists. She pulled her arms to the front and rubbed the soreness from her wrists. She looked at the man that was obviously the leader of the group with disdain. “You can’t do this to us, you can’t just keep us prisoner.”

  “I can do whatever I want sweet heart,” he responded, “this is the apocalypse.”

  With that, she was shoved into one of the cages and locked inside.

  CHAPTER 15

  Shortly after they returned from their trip to the barracks, John had cleaned himself up and changed into a fresh uniform. A couple of hours later they were sitting in the conference room discussing options.

  “We have to do something.” Ed was saying. “We don’t have enough food here to sustain ourselves for much longer. I give us about five or six more days with our current supply.”

  “You are right Ed,” John agreed, “we need to leave this base; the question is where though.”

  “We could go to Kandahar Airfield,” Shelly suggested, “that is the closest large base to here.” Kandahar Airfield was about one hundred and fifty miles to the east from their location. “They might have this under control there; they might have a plan to get people home.”

  “That is probably the best course of action.” Ed agreed with Shelly. “As many people that were stationed there, they must have a plan. Assuming they haven’t evacuated that base too.”

  “Sounds like a solid plan to me,” John put in, “but we need to plan on coming back here, if the need arises. At least we have an idea of what we are dealing with here.”

  “I agree with John.” George said. “We should take enough food and water to make a round trip if necessary. The next thing is how are we getting there. There’s more than enough vehicles still inside the base, but do they have enough fuel to make the trip.”

  “I can get us fuel if we need it.” Shelly assured them. “I worked in the fuel yard and I know how to operate the fuel trucks. I think we can drive the vehicles we plan to use over to the fuel yard, if needed, even if there are zombies all over the place.”

  “I saw the quick reactionary vehicles were still parked by the front gate when I came back.” John told them. “They usually keep them fully gassed up and ready to go at all times. We could take two of the Humvees. I think for a short trip to Kandahar Airfield, Humvees would be ideal. They can move faster, hold more than enough fuel for the round trip, and we could keep someone in each gunner’s hatch to deal with any zombies that get too close or bunch up around us.”

  “Why two?” Susan asked him. “I think we should all stay together.”

  “Those gun trucks only seat four, plus a fifth in the hatch.” John answered. “We have six. Plus, if we take two, we can squeeze into one truck if the other breaks down or gets a flat tire. Not sure if I want to change a tire on the side of the road in Afghanistan with zombies walking around.”

  “Good point.” Susan conceded.

  “Well it’s settled then.” Ed said. “Plan on taking anything with you that you don’t want to leave behind. We might get lucky and find a way out of this mess. Let’s spend the rest of today getting the vehicles ready and loading up anything we need or want to take. We should split into teams, get the job done faster. John and Shelly can make their way to the gate, see if we can use two of the Humvees parked over there. Damien and George, you fellas should position yourself up on the roof, cover John and Shelly for as long as you can and clean up any zombies that you can see. Susan and I will go through this building and gather as much food, water, and ammo as we can find and move it close to the outer door so we can load it all up quickly. We’ll spend the night here and leave at first light. Everyone agree to all that?” Ed asked.

  “Solid plan.” John said. “Do we have any short-range radios we can use to communicate while we are split up and while on the road tomorrow?” He asked.

  “I saw some in the supply room.” George said. “Let me grab them and get them set up.” With that he walked out of the room.

  They continued to discuss the minor details until George returned a while later. “I got three radios; they are push to talk and ready to go.” He told them as he handed one to Ed and one to John. “We don’t have any power to charge them up, but they have a full battery each. We should keep them turned off when we are all together.” He added.

  “Good work George.” Ed said with a wink. “Let’s get to it then.”

  John and Shelly moved to the front door with Ed and Susan while George and Damien headed to the roof. Ed helped John and Shelly organize their gear while they waited for a call from above. “JOHN, THIS IS DAMIEN, HOW DO YOU READ ME?” They heard the call come from Ed’s radio. John heard it in his ear piece as well. George had set him up with an ear piece that was attached to a cable that ran down his gear to his radio, so that he could remain hands free. John reached up to his shoulder to key the mic and replied: “I HEAR YOU LOUD AND CLEAR DAMIEN.”

  “ROGER, GIVE US A FEW MINUTES TO CLEAR A PATH FOR YOU.” Damien called again. “I’LL CALL YOU WHEN THE COAST IS CLEAR.” They soon heard the shots firing outside. It went on for several minutes. At first the shots were popping off in short intervals, but after a few minutes the intervals became longer, presumably because they had less targets at that point. The shots came to a stop and they waited for the call. After several seconds, there was one last shot. “JOHN, YOU TWO SHOULD BE GOOD TO GO.” They heard Damien say over the radio. “ROGER, THANKS DAMIEN.” John responded.

  “Alright, ya’ll be careful out there and call on the radio when you are on your way back, so we can get back to the door and let you in.” Ed told John.

  John nodded with determination. “You ready?” He asked Shelly.

  “Yup.” She said with a smile.

  Ed opened the door and John led the way out. Ed closed the door behind them. John could see that Damien and George had held up their part of the plan. The area they had cleared earlier that morning was littered with fresh corpses, zombies that had wandered near the building since they had returned from the barracks. John started off in the direction of the gate immediately. They passed in front of the door to the dining hall; the door was opened. John peered inside as they passed, he was curious if it was still full of the undead. He couldn’t see any movement inside. He shrugged and kept moving. John looked over his shoulder behind them, towards the roof of the headquarters building, and saw Damien and George watching them intently. He knew they would move out of their line of sight soon enough. “DAMIEN, THIS IS JOHN, YOU STILL GOT ME?” He asked over the radio.

  “WE STILL SEE YOU JOHN, BUT BE ADVISED WE WILL LOSE YOU AFTER YOU PASS THE CHOW HALL.” Damien replied.

  “ROGER, UNDERSTOOD.” John said. “DO ME A FAVOR AND LET ME KNOW IF YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO SHOOT AT SOMETHING, IT’S NERVE RACKING ENOUGH TO BE OUT HERE IN THE OPEN, I DON’T WANT TO SHIT MY PANTS BECAUSE OF AN UNEXPECTED SHOT.”

  “NO PROBLEM BUDDY, WE’LL LET YOU KNOW.” Damien assured him.

  “THANKS BUD.” John replied. “Shelly, we are going to be absent cover from the guys on the roof as soon as we pass that corner. Be on your guard.” John told her.

  “Roger that.” She said as sh
e raised her rifle to the ready and looked forward determinedly.

  John kept them moving. He wanted to get this done as quickly as possible and get back to the safety of the building. They came around the chow hall and came to a stop. The area around the gate and the vehicles was full of zombies. The monsters didn’t notice their arrival yet. John pulled Shelly by the arm and pulled her back to the edge of the building, to avoid detection. “I think we should take out a few and then back pedal so the rest will take up chase.” He suggested to Shelly. “They move pretty damn slow, for the most part, and we can draw the majority into the kill zone from our snipers back there, if they get too close we can just turn around and run away at full speed.”

  “Good idea.” Shelly agreed. “Let’s do it.”

  “DAMIEN.” John called over the radio.

  “GO AHEAD JOHN.” He answered.

  “WE ARE GOING TO DRAW SOME OF THESE FUCKERS BACK TO YOU GUYS.” John explained. “WE HAVE A FEW TOO MANY ON THIS SIDE FOR COMFORT. WE COULD USE YOUR HELP. JUST DON’T SHOOT US. PLEASE.” John pleaded.

  “WE GOT YOU JOHN.” Damien assured him. “BRING EM ON.”

  John tapped on Shelly’s shoulder and nodded toward the closest pack of zombies. They stepped out from the wall. John took the first shot and dropped one of the closest monsters. Shelly wouldn’t be outdone, she dropped one right next to it with her first shot and fired off two more shots to take out another one. “Two to one.” She said with a teasing grin. John smiled, shrugged, and got back to it. He took another one down and started to walk backwards with Shelly moving next to him. They continued to fire as they walked backward. They dropped more than a few as they continued to move backwards. There were at least twenty of the monsters still upright and they were all moving towards John and Shelly now. A couple seemed to be unable to walk and were crawling towards them, determined to feed. John was amazed by this. The zombies seemed to be driven by one instinct alone, to eat.