The Remaining

[dantheremaining]

**Last bit of Chapter 9**

Jack ushered the threesome into the house through the back door that led into the living room. He instructed them all to sit on the couch there while he barricaded the door. He had nailed 3⁄4 inch plywood into the door to cover the glass portion. On either side of the door he had constructed sturdy-looking wooden arms that held a 2x4 in place across the door, like an old castle, locked down against the barbarian hordes.

After locking down the door, he went and checked the few ground-floor windows that were not completely boarded over. In a few of them he had cut murder holes into the plywood. Through these small openings the waning lights from outside cast a dim glow on the interior of the house. With the windows boarded and the doors locked down, it felt more like a tomb than a house.

After he had checked the downstairs for security, Jack walked back into the center of the living room, casting Lee’s weapons into the corner of the room farthest from his reach. Jack then grabbed a gas lantern, cranked on the fuel, and sparked it. The room filled with the cold light of the propane lantern.

With all three of his guests—or prisoners—occupying the couch, Jack chose a wing-backed chair, and situated it to face the trio. He laid the bolt action rifle across his lap and regarded each of the newcomers for a long moment before speaking.

“I’m truly sorry if this seems harsh to you folks, but you have to understand my situation here. I’ve had everyone from the crazy ones to rogue military try to come and take my shit...pardon the language.”

Lee nodded. “You never can be too careful.”

Jack looked at him. “You say you’re army. I seen your ID, but I’m havin’ some trouble believing this story of yours. Explain.”

Lee took a deep breath. “My explanation might seem far fetched to you, but it’s the truth.” He looked at Angela and Abby as he explained, since he had yet to explain the situation to them. “Without wasting time with too many details, I am a part of a government initiative, headed by the US Army called Project Hometown. Myself and forty-seven others just like me are stationed in every one of the lower forty-eight states. Our houses were built by the government and come with a heavy-duty underground bomb shelter...more like a vault. We refer to it as ‘The Hole.’ Anytime something happens that the government believes could cause a serious threat to the stability of the nation, they sequester us, each in our individual vaults. They maintain constant contact with us, until the crisis is over and they release us from the vaults. If the crisis does not resolve itself, our orders are to wait 30 days and then begin our mission.”

“It’s barely been over a month since this started,” Angela interjected. “Did they have you sequestered that early? Did they know this was going to happen?”

“They didn’t know it was going to happen,” Lee shook his head. “But they plan for the worst case scenario. I’ve been sequestered many times, and it has never developed into anything worse than a bad news story. I’m sure they thought this was going to be the same thing...I know I did.”

Jack brought the conversation back. “You mentioned a mission. What exactly is your ‘mission’?”

“Render aide and reestablish a centralized form of constitutional government in the event of total collapse.”

His words were met with silence.

Abby wasn’t terribly in tune with the conversation, but the two adults stared right at Lee for a long time. Finally the silence grew stale and Jack voiced what Angela was thinking.

“So...If what you say is true, you wouldn’t be here if the government still existed.”

“The government is completely gone...” Angela echoed, her voice carrying with it a sense of flat dejection, as though Lee had taken her last shred of hope.

Lee leaned forward. “In all likelihood, the government is wiped out...at least the government as we knew it a month ago. It certainly seems that way to me. My mission doesn’t start until I stop receiving communications from them. The lastcommunication I received was on July 2nd.”

“What day is it now?” Angela sounded lost.

“July 24th.” Jack leaned forward on his rifle.

“Don’t you have some information for us?” Angela asked. “Is there some way we can cure this thing?”

He shrugged. “The information I received from the government was what they knew when they put me in The Hole. That was June 15th. At this point in time, your own individual experiences with the infected probably surpass the limited information I received from my briefing.”

Angela’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not minimizing what you’ve done for me and Abby...but if we know more than you do, what good are you going to be in helping survivors?”

Lee nodded as though to concede that it was a fair question, but Jack jumped in before he could speak.

“Because that’s what he’s trained to do.” Jack stood from his chair, and for the first time, set his rifle down. “He’s trained to organize pockets of people into big groups and get them to work toward a common goal. And he’s obviously better equipped than us, or anyone I’ve seen so far.” Jack pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his shirt pocket and stuck one in his mouth. Then he looked at Angela. “You mind?”

She shrugged. “Your house.”

“Thanks.” He lit the cigarette. “If I heard it from anyone else, Lee, I’d think it was horseshit—excuse me—but for some reason I believe you. Or maybe I’m just depressed and grasping at anything that can bring me some hope.”

Lee watched the lanky man with a guarded look. Behind his expressionless face, he was thinking that he was growing tired of convincing this asshole, and wanted to get moving. Unfortunately, his job wasn’t to rescue people and then drop them as soon as it was inconvenient. His job was to begin gathering people into a workable unit, and here were two adults who could help.

“Listen,” Lee stood. “I understand the hesitancy that both of you are feeling. I’m not a prophet, and I’m not a leader. I’m not asking for your help. I’m asking both of you if you would like my help.” Lee let that sink in for a moment. When neither Jack nor Angela responded, he continued. “If you choose to accept my help, then we should get going now. If you don’t want it, that’s fine. I would simply ask that you, Jack, give me my equipment back and I’ll be gone for good.”

Angela immediately stood. “We’re going with you.”

Lee was surprised how quickly she made that decision, but he supposed that desperation and survival limited one’s options. Now that the two females were decided, all eyes turned to Jack, who was still casually smoking his cigarette.

“What?” Jack stared right back at them. “You want me to join your merry band?”

“There’s no band,” Lee said. “Just me, Angela, and Abby. Back in my bunker, there’s a twelve-year old kid that watched his father get shot to death earlier today, and my dog’s with him. That’s it.”

Jack folded his arms across his chest and pursed his lips. “Why do you want me to come?"

“Because it’s my job to gather people. Because I could use you. Because you’re a Marine, and—correct me if I’m wrong—you’ve got combat experience.”

“Iraq in ’03 and Afghanistan in ’07 and ’08.”

Lee smiled. “Same year in Iraq as me. But I’m not forcing you to do anything. You do what you think is best. But you don’t have a lot of time to decide.”

“Yeah,” Jack stepped forward. “About you leaving...I don’t suggest moving around at night.”

Lee was about to respond when Jack put up a finger to hush him. For a brief second, Lee thought Jack was just being an asshole, but then he realized that he was listening. In the same moment he heard what Jack was hearing.

“What?” Angela whispered. “What’s wrong?”

Jack snatched up his rifle and Lee dove for the lantern, turning the gas as low as it would go. In the dim light Lee stared up at Jack and whispered, “I’m going to get my weapon.”

Jack only nodded.

“What’s happening?” Angela whispered again, this time her voice sounding like she was on the verge of tears. Abby picked up on the bad situation brewing and began to whimper.

Lee stepped quietly to the corner of the room where Jack had stowed his things and began strapping on his gear. Jack moved to Angela and put an arm around her shoulder. He spoke while moving them towards the back of the room, behind some large pieces of furniture.

“Someone’s coming...there’s not a whole lot of friendlies around here, hence the warm welcome that I gave you. They might not be bad, but we gotta play it safe.”

Lee was geared up in a matter of seconds. “It was us...”

Jack was thinking the same thing. “They either tracked you through the woods, or they just came to my house because it was the next logical place you’d be.” He didn’t say it accusatorily, but simply because it was a fact. “Are they good or bad?”

“I dunno,” Lee knelt down and peered through one of the murder holes. “I got a hinky feeling about them, but I get a hinky feeling off a lot of shit these days." Lee was looking at the side of the house facing the woods where they’d come from. “Side’s clear.”

Jack approached the front door and peered out the murder hole to the left of it. “Eyes on...one humvee...two pickup trucks...five armed personnel approaching the house in a skirmish line...three armed personnel remaining with the truck.” Jack spread his feet apart and rested the muzzle of his rifle into the murder hole. It was just big enough to allow him to sight through with his scope. The dim outside light coming through the murder hole created a pale square across his face.

Lee pointed upwards. “Jack, take the upstairs. You’ve got a better vantage point with your rifle.”

“Negative.” Jack just kept sighting through the scope. “I’m good where I’m at. Five approaching are about 100 yards out.” He spoke louder. “Angela, push the couch you’re behind. Underneath it there is a big black shotgun. It’s loaded, just point and shoot, okay? Anyone comes in the back door, you let ‘em have it.”

“I...but...” Angela stammered.

Lee looked towards her. “Angela, just do it.”

She nodded and pushed the couch out of the way. She leaned down out of view and came back up with the nastiest pistol-grip shotgun Lee had ever seen. Angela stared at it with wide eyes, like she was holding a rabid dog. “Do I have to cock it every time I shoot it?”

“Negative.” Jack responded, still not looking back. “Semi-auto and idiot proof. Like I said, just point and shoot.”

“Jack,” Lee leaned against the wall and rested the barrel of his rifle in the murder hole. “We gonna challenge them or just open up?”

“Don’t feel like it’d be right not to give ‘em a chance...” Jack obviously wasn’t concerned with Lee’s opinion on the matter because he immediately yelled to the men outside: “You men approaching the house! Stop where you are! Lay down your weapons and put your hands up!”

Lee took his eyes away from the murder hole for a moment. He looked at Jack for the brief second after he had issued his challenge. He opened his mouth to ask a question.

“Shit!” Jack hit the deck.

Neat beams of light speared the darkness, one appearing rapidly after the other, tracing a line from one side of the house to the other. The visual was spectacular, but the sound hit Lee’s ears a second later. The sound of automatic gunfire punching holes through the plywood-covered windows and Angela and Abby screaming in unison.

Lee followed Jack’s lead and flattened himself to the ground.

“Motherfucker!” Jack yelled over the gunfire.

“He’s got a fuckin’ SAW!” Lee referred to the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, a 5.56 mm belt-fed light machine gun issued to military personnel. The sound of it chattering away at them was unmistakable.

Jack turned his head to look at Lee. He face was still pressed to the ground, trying to be as small as possible, and all Lee could see were his eyes peering over the top of his left shoulder. Lee thought the man must be insane, because, though he couldn’t see the rest of his face, Lee could swear Jack was grinning.

“Guess they’re not friendly after all!” Jack yelled.

Then the house exploded.

From where Lee was plastered to the floor, he could see up the staircase to the second level. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash, then a billow of smoke as shreds of curtains, chunks of wood, and pieces of plaster went flying in. A heavy cloud of dust and smoke billowed down the staircase and covered him with white powder. He hadn’t even registered the explosion, but his ears were ringing.

“—the fuck was that?” Jack yelled.

“RPG!” Running on auto-pilot, Lee hauled himself up off the floor before his brain had even registered that the gunfire had ceased. He was on his hands quickly, but it felt like it took him forever to find his feet.

Jack seemed to suddenly realize the gunfire had stopped and rolled away from the door. “We need to get the fuck out of here.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Lee stumbled to his feet, realizing the concussion of the blast had made him a little unsteady. Perhaps his inner ear was damaged. He shambled over to where Angela and Abby were hugging each other, both curled in the fetal position in the corner of the room. Lee felt angry at them that they hadn’t followed Lee and Jack’s example and flattened themselves on the ground. All around them on the wall were bullet holes. It was a damn miracle that they weren’t both shot to shit. In fact...

Lee knelt down beside them as Jack went to the back door and peered out the murder hole.

“Back sides clear.” Jack announced. “We need to move, now.”

Lee shook the two girls. “Come on. We gotta get up!” As he spoke he was checking them for bullet holes. Sometimes the adrenaline masked the pain and someone could go several minutes without realizing they had a wound. They both appeared to be unharmed. Lee grabbed Angela by the arm and pulled her up off the ground—perhaps a little hard, but he didn’t have time to be a gentleman about it. “We need to fucking move!”

He shoved them towards the back door. Abby had her hands pressed over her ears and her mother looked shell-shocked and was still holding her daughter like a teddy-bear. Jack stepped in for Lee and grabbed Angela by the shoulder, giving her a hard shake. “Look at me,” he said.

She just kept staring at her daughter.

Jack smacked her across the face. The look she gave him was utter shock, but he had her full attention. “I’ll apologize later,” he said and put his hand on the door knob. “When I open this door, we’re going out first, then you and Abby come out and start running. Run straight back for the woods. Lee, you take the right corner, I’ll take the left. Ready?”

“Ready.” Those words always made Lee’s stomach tighten.

Jack wrenched open the door. Lee moved through first and cut to the right with his rifle up and ready. He didn’t see what Jack and the girls did behind him. There was an old piece of advice that Lee had received many years ago during infantry training at Sand Hill. That advice was watch your lane, referring to each member of a squad’s individual lane of fire. It also corresponded to all individual responsibilities. When you were focused on whether everyone else was doing their job correctly, you were least likely to be focused on doing your own job correctly.

Lee was focused on the corner of the house. In that instant, the corner of the house was his whole world. He kept moving to it, rifle at the ready, walking heel-toe, ready to toast anyone that came around the corner.

About ten feet before he reached it, Lee kicked out a few yards and “pied the corner.” He leaned to his left and pied a few degrees of angle, then a few more, then a few more, slicing up “the pie” into tiny pieces that gave him more and more angle on the side of the house...

Man with a gun.

He was closer than Lee expected. Lee pulled the trigger twice, instinctively. Both shots ripped through the man’s chest. The intruder’s body jerked, and he lurched towards the house. Lee’s angle was too shallow and the man disappeared from sight. Lee immediately pied off a bigger angle, bringing the entire side of the house into view. The man he’d just shot was leaning against the side of the house, on his knees, hunched over and doing his best to bring his rifle up to bear. Lee registered that he was wearing jeans and black shirt and was carrying an AK-47. Lee popped him two more times and he crumpled to the ground, ass up in the air like he was bowing.

There was a dark shape behind the dead man, moving up fast.

The side of the house exploded, spraying his face with chips and splinters. Lee cried out, more in surprise than pain and ducked back behind the corner. A gunfight was a game of chess that happened in the span of a few short seconds. You didn’t have time to think, so you made your moves and hoped your training and instincts were better than the other guy’s. At that brief second in time, Lee knew the initiative and the advantage had gone to his attacker and that if he waited too long, he wouldn’t be able to get it back.

A gunfight was constant motion.

When you move fast and non-stop, you deprive the enemy of the ability to reason. You put them in mid-brain, and that’s where Lee’s better training could win.

Lee went down to one knee, then hit the ground on his left side, “urban prone,” so the top of his head and his rifle were just barely around the corner. The dead man lying ass-up blocked most of Lee’s field of view, but his untrained opponent came running up to his downed buddy, hugging the wall of the house like an amateur. Lee gave him two, then two more, just to be sure. He fell right on top of his buddy, and Lee thought the position was darkly comical.

Rising to his knees, Lee spared a look behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Angela and Abby sprinting for the woods. Jack was on one knee, leaning out around the corner and covering the opposite side of the house.

“You ready?” Lee yelled.

“You call it.” Was Jack’s response.

Lee briefly glanced at the terrain behind the house. It was about fifty yards of unkept grass, and then another hundred yards of plowed field before the woods. “Tactical retreat! I’ll cover you from the field!”

“Whatever!” Jack shouted and took a shot. The .308 made Lee’s 5.56 sound like a tack-gun. The Marine cranked another round into his chamber and sighted down the scope.

Lee reached into his chest rig and extracted a grenade. He peered around the corner and saw the muzzle of a rifle peeking out from the far end of the house. Looked like a few guys mustering up a stack to take the back of the house. If they were smart, they’d take the inside and bust through. Lee would give them a little something to think about.

He pulled the pin and stepped into full view for a brief moment, tossing the grenade underhand. It flew low and rolled just beyond the corner of the house where the enemy were stacking up.

Lee didn’t wait for the blast.

He turned and started sprinting for the field. He heard a few screams and shouts as someone recognized what had just been tossed at them. Then there was a BOOM, followed by relative silence.

Lee felt like he was running faster than he’d ever run. He felt like the ground was moving underneath him faster than his feet could keep up, like the whole world was a giant treadmill turned up as high as it could go. He reached the end of the grass and the beginning of plowed field and wasn’t sure whether he dove or tripped, but landed face first in the soft dirt, recovered quickly, and came back up to his knees.

He immediately brought his rifle up.

“Jack! Move!”

The man with the bolt-action jumped up and left his corner, heading straight for Lee. Though the grass in the backyard was overgrown, he could just see enough over the top of it from his kneeling position to cover Jack effectively as he beat his retreat. Lee would have preferred to be prone, but the battlefield was a dynamic environment where you made the best out of what you had. At least the tall grass provided him some concealment, though it did nothing to protect him.

Jack hit the field and ran straight past Lee, continuing on to the trees. Lee kept the side of the house in sight. Around the corner Jack had been covering came two men, both wearing ACU’s and carrying AR-15’s. They both moved and looked like professionals. They took the back of the house fast, then scanned for threats. They didn’t appear to notice him poking out from the tall weeds, but trained their rifles on the figure of Jack, still heading for the woodline.

Lee didn’t wait for them to take the first shot. He opened fire, feeling very odd that he so readily was shooting at what appeared to be American troops. Perhaps he subconsciously didn’t want to kill them, because his shots went very high and both guys immediately went prone.

“Shit,” Lee turned towards the woodline and was already sprinting when he heard Jack call out to him, “Gotcha covered! Move!”

The soft plowed ground was difficult to run across, like running in sand, and Lee nearly ate it twice before he finally hit the woodline. Just before he reached it, he saw Jack, leaning up against a small tree, taking aim through his scope, and firing one solid round right over Lee’s shoulder.

Lee flinched, felt the shockwave smack him in the face, and kept running.

Behind him, he heard Jack keeping pace.

[Jessicajung]

http://youtu.be/CGrnJVNzWks

Watch the video. Learn about the story. Join The Remaining.

what does the video mean? I feel it boring

[Shanna_Redwind]

I always hate it when I come to the last posted chapter and have to wait with everyone else.

Moar!!

[223shooteresc]

thanks for another great chapter

[dantheremaining]

http://youtu.be/CGrnJVNzWks

Watch the video. Learn about the story. Join The Remaining.

what does the video mean? I feel it boring

Yes, that one wasn't meant to be exciting. Its about preparing to leave the safety of your home and face unknown threats in a post-apocalyptic world, which I find quietly depressing. Perhaps this one will be more your flavor: http://youtu.be/WtWQmK5C2kk

[dantheremaining]

**First part of Chapter 10**

It was dark before Lee knew it.

He and Jack had high-tailed it into the woods, leaving their attackers behind and themselves with a lot of unanswered questions. When they were deeper into the woods, Lee realized it was dark enough that he was straining to make his way through the woods. The two military men were keeping up a good clip in what Lee figured was a westerly direction. They weren’t being overly loud, but they weren’t exercising much noise discipline either. They were both still focused on putting as much distance as possible between them and the house.

Houses were fast becoming a big negative for Lee. It was the second time he’d had to escape out the back during a frontal assault. Modern houses were not very good defensible locations. A decent rifle round, even one as small as a 5.56 mm, could punch a hole clean through the average house, as Lee had seen so recently with the enemy SAW.

As they moved silently, Lee’s thoughts were overcrowded. His thoughts first went to the enemy force that had just attacked him. Well-equipped looters or ill-equipped reserve forces? There was an argument to be made for both. The way Lee saw it, there were three options: they were a jumpy reserve unit that got scared and started firing before they should have, but were overall benign; they were a reserve unit that had gone completely rogue; or they were regular citizens that had raided an armory and made out with some goodies.

The other pressing issue was where the hell Angela and Abby had gotten to. If Angela viewed Lee and Jack as having less than her best interest in mind, she might have seen that as an opportunity to escape. He supposed Jack slapping her hadn’t helped if that was the case, however, she had seemed comfortable with Lee prior to that. And best interest or not, they were without any food or water and had no place to go.

“Hey,” Jack whispered.

Lee stopped and looked at him. The Marine was standing stock still, slightly hunched, rifle up, and scanning. Lee waited for a moment.

“What?” he whispered back.

Jack turned and looked at him. “I didn’t say anything.”

They both reacted the same, turning outwards and going to their knees, scanning the dark woods for a threat.

Then a familiar voice said, “Guys, it’s me.”

Lee felt relieved. “Angela?”

“Yeah.” The blonde woman stepped out from behind a large tree and waved. She was still holding the shotgun from Jack’s house. Abby peered cautiously around the tree, as though she thought her mother might be mistaken.

“Jesus Christ, woman.” Jack grumbled.

Angela gave Jack a what’s-your-problem look.

Lee let his rifle rest on his sling and walked over to her. “You and Abby alright?”

The woman looked down at her daughter. “Yeah. We’re fine.”

Abby stepped out and presented her arm with a somber look on her face. “I got scratched, but I’m okay.”

“We ran through a briar patch,” Angela clarified.

Lee couldn’t help but smile at the girl. He knelt down and took her arm gently. “Let me see how bad it is.” He couldn’t really see the scratches in the dark, but he pretended to give them a solid looking-over. “Those are some pretty good scratches Abby. You’re a pretty tough girl. But I think you’re gonna be okay. I think we’ll clean them up and they’ll be just fine.”

Abby nodded, still very serious about her wounds.

Jack bent down so that he was closer to Lee and spoke in a low voice. “We should go ahead and make camp.”

Lee looked at him like he was crazy. “Right here?”

Jack was already unslinging his rifle. “Yeah. Those boys won’t be tracking us in the dark. They know what’s up. And us moving around at night is a very, very bad idea.”

Lee just stared. He didn’t want to contradict the man, as he felt he was speaking from experience, but Lee did not want to stop. He wanted to get home to his bunker where he could batten down the hatches and sleep in relative safety. And he was worried about Sam and Tango. Sam would probably be scared shitless right now, thinking that Lee was dead. He’d told the kid he would be back in a few hours. Lee was way overdue.

Jack realized Lee wasn’t thrilled with the idea of stopping and knelt down. He motioned for Angela and Abby to join him. “I don’t know how much movin’ around you folks done, but I got here cross country from Lejeune, tryin’ to link up with my dad. These people—the infected ones—they go nuts at night. They just run around in packs and I don’t know what it is, but they can hear as well as any animal. You move around at night, you’ll have those fuckers all over you in a heartbeat.” He looked at Lee. “Now I can see you seem like a shit-hot hard charger, but I only got a few rounds left for my rifle and didn’t have time to grab none of my other gear. And I’ve seen these infected in groups as large as fifty. You ain’t takin’ ‘em down all by yourself.”

Fifty… Lee thought. That was much larger than Sam had seen. The eyewitness accounts of these groups seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. Was it the tale getting bigger, or were the infected herding together out of instinct, the separate groups absorbing into one another as they met, creating larger and larger hordes?

“I have this gun…” Angela offered.

“Ma’am, no offense, but you don’t know the first thing about that gun.”

Angela looked indignant. “I can pull the trigger.”

“What type of gun is it?” Jack smiled.

Angela looked at it. “A…rifle?”

“No. It’s a shotgun. How many rounds does it hold?”

“Ten.”

“Five. You know how fast you go through five rounds? You have extra ammunition I don’t know about? Do you even know how to reload it? Listen, sweet-heart, I’m not tryin’ to be mean here, but this isn’t the time for politically correct, women’s rights bullshit. I’ll be happy to show you how to use that weapon when I have time, but right now you need to admit that you don’t know what the fuck you’re doing.”

Angela glared at him. “I’m not trying to be a feminine Nazi. I’m just trying to help. And don’t call me sweet-heart…asshole.”

Jack just grinned.

Lee decided to settle the matter before it got more heated. “Fine. We camp here.”

“Can we make a fire?” Abby asked.

“No, sweetie.” Jack got down on his knees. “And we have to be real, real quiet, okay? We don’t want anyone to hear us.”

“Okay…” Abby’s voice was an exaggerated whisper.

Lee took his backpack off and opened it. He had enough water left to give everyone a bottle and inform them they needed to make it last until tomorrow when they reached his bunker. He gave the girls the MRE’s he’d already opened for them earlier in the day. He’d only packed two MRE’s, so he gave Jack a Powerbar and took one for himself. Jack thanked him and offered to take first watch. They would switch at 0200 hours.

They all made quick work of their food, eating hungrily in silence. When they were finished, the girls huddled together against a tree, and Jack crept away with his rifle to find a good perch from which to watch the camp. Lee felt strange about having the man he barely knew watching over them while they slept, but options were limited.

From his pack he pulled out his poncho liner and offered it to Angela. She looked at the folded square, unsure of what it was. “It’s a poncho liner,” he explained. “But it makes a pretty good blanket if you get cold during the night.”

She accepted it with a smile and spread it over her and her daughter.

Lee settled back, using his go-to-hell pack as a pillow. He crossed his legs and hugged his M4 to his chest. This was his favored position for falling asleep in the field. He’d learned it after many nights in the shallow holes they called “Ranger graves.” It was the same position he might lay in if he was laying in a hammock, enjoying a warm summer evening, and perhaps that was what made it so comforting to him.

He was surprisingly tired and found himself drifting off after only a few moments. Just as he was about to fall asleep, a single thought made his stomach sink, and kept him awake for a few more minutes. He thought that he might never again be able to sit in a hammock and enjoy a cold beer.

[223shooteresc]

thanks for the new page, good stuff

[dantheremaining]

**Second half of Chapter 10**

Lee woke up to realize something had just hit him in the face.

He opened his eyes and saw that it was still dark.

Whatever had hit him was small, possibly an acorn dropping from the tree they were under. He looked up at the forest canopy above him. The moon was very bright and cast the leaves of the trees with a silver lining. The night, though much cooler than the day, was still quite humid, and Lee felt his entire body was covered in a thin layer of sweat and his clothes were sticking to him.

He thought again about Sam and Tango. He was sure the kid was worried. He had witnessed his father murdered, and then the guy that saved him runs off and doesn’t come back. Lee had no way of contacting him and letting him know they were okay—relatively—and on the way back. He could see the kid’s imagination getting the best of him. He just hoped Sam didn’t do anything stupid.

Off to his left he heard a soft breeze working its way through the forest as he closed his eyes again and waited for the breeze to flow over him and hopefully dry up some of his sweat.

Something hit him again.

This time, Lee could have sworn it was more forceful than just something dropping from a tree. He leaned up onto his elbows and looked around, just as another object bounced off his chest. Lee was about to stand up and ask what the fuck was going on, but then focused and saw Jack staring at him in the moonlight. The guy’s skeletal features looked creepy in the moonlight, his eyes were just sunken, glittering shadows and his cheekbones stood out like he was grinning at Lee.

What the hell was he doing?

Then Lee realized that Jack had a finger in front of his lips, signifying the need for silence. Lee also simultaneously realized that nothing in the forest was stirring from the breeze, and that the “breeze” was not a breeze at all, but the sound of several people moving stealthily through the woods.

Lee clicked the safety off his M4 and pulled it snug into his shoulder. Then he slowly turned and looked at Angela and Abby. They were both still asleep, but he didn’t want them to wake up and make noise. Angela had scooted down and was lying more on her back than leaning against the tree now, and her foot was only inches from Lee’s. He sidled very carefully and quietly until his boot touched her shoe and gave it a good nudge.

She woke instantly and stared straight at him with wide eyes. She was about to open her mouth to speak when he brought his finger to his lips, then motioned with his eyes out to where the sound of movement was coming from.

Both of them looked out into the darkness.

In the sterling moonlight, the shapes were hard to make out among all the trees, but Lee could see the movement, distinctly human, and distinctly predatory. They were moving in a pack of seven or eight, maybe 50 yards from the camp and parallel to where Lee imagined the road was. None were armed, and Lee knew without thinking about it that these were not the people they’d gotten into a firefight with.

These were all infected.

His reaction to them was twofold. Physically he felt the adrenaline pumping hard through his veins. There was nothing he hated more than hiding and waiting. His mouth was dry, his tense muscles were beginning to quiver, and he felt like he was about to piss his pants. Mentally, he was detachedly surprised at how quietly they moved through the woods, and how they obviously moved as one unit. It confirmed what Sam had told him about them banding together like dogs. In addition to that, their stealth could only mean one thing: they were hunting for prey. Lee wondered if this was something that would eventually go away as the FURY bacterium ate through its victim’s brain, or whether the plague only did so much damage, turning people into ghouls and then leaving them that way.

Lee glanced over at Angela. Abby was still asleep in her arms, but the woman had her hand clamped over her own mouth and her eyes were squeezed shut as though she was trying not to scream or to cry. She opened her eyes momentarily and Lee watched tears spill out, leaving glistening streaks on her face. He didn’t know what he could do to comfort her. Speaking was out of the question. He put his hand out and motioned very slowly with a “be calm” gesture.

He mouthed the words, “It’s okay.”

She closed her eyes again.

I can’t see them, they can’t see me.

Childhood fears come to life, making you want to hide under the blanket and wish to wake up.

Lee looked back at Jack. The man was sitting against a fallen stump, just his head peeking over. He was looking out at the moving figures, his rifle tucked neatly into his shoulder, but somewhat relaxed across his chest. Actually, Jack himself looked fairly relaxed. His face appeared unimpressed by what he was seeing.

Lee wondered about the man and his mental stability. He appreciated having another military man, especially one as cool-headed as Jack appeared to be. But the devil-may-care attitude made Lee concerned that he might be a little off his rocker. Or he might just have brass balls. Only time would tell.

It was several minutes before the pack of infected had passed by into the darkness and could no longer be heard. It was several minutes after that before anyone moved an inch. Finally, Jack looked back towards the group and arched his eyebrows, though he was still unwilling to speak. He got up very slowly and quietly and made his way over to Lee.

“Guess what?” he whispered.

Lee looked at him. “It’s 0200?”

Jack just grinned.

Lee rolled out of his warm spot on the ground and took a moment to work out a few kinks. Angela watched the two men with tears in her eyes, but still said nothing. Jack took off his plaid shirt, under which he wore a gray t-shirt. He balled the plaid shirt up and stuck it under his head. He rolled onto his side, hugging his rifle like Lee had hugged his.

Before standing, Lee gave Angela a reassuring pat on the leg and his best confident smile. “Relax and try to get some sleep. Twelve hours from now, we’ll be back at my bunker and you can clean up and sleep in a real bed.”

She smiled bravely and Lee stood and walked to his post.

He hoped those words were true and that nothing unfortunate would befall them before they managed to get back home.

By the time he settled into position at the stump, he could already hear Jack breathing steadily, asleep.

[Laager]

Not a good place to be.........out in the woods, with little to no supplies and ammo running low as well as two civilians. Can't wait for the next chapter.

[223shooteresc]

good stuff, scary but good, need more

[Nancy1340]

I just found this story tonight and have read it on your blog up to the last chapter. Thirteen I think?
Can't wait until the next ones are posted!
Really, really good story. Thank you.

[dantheremaining]

**Chapter 11**

The day was going to be a scorcher.

By 0530 hours it was already humid, and by the time everyone was awake and moving, it was getting uncomfortably warm. Lee had no more food left in his go-to-hell pack, but Abby was the only one that complained of being hungry. Lee was sure that Angela and Jack were hungry as well, but they knew he didn’t have any food left and that, hopefully, they would be at his bunker in several hours. Lee himself was hungry, but he’d experienced worse hunger in the past.

The group drank what water they had left and broke camp. Angela and Abby simply stood up and brushed the leaves off of themselves. Angela folded the poncho liner neatly and handed it back to Lee with a smile and a “thank you.” Lee stuffed it away, then shouldered his pack and slung into his rifle.

They stood around in silence, looking out into the woods. The morning birds were all singing loudly, but the hum of insects hadn’t quite begun. The woods weren’t what you would call foggy, but there was a definite haze as the heat began to boil the water out of the moist forest floor.

“Everyone ready?” Lee asked. He received three silent nods. “Jack, take point?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll catch up in a second.”

Jack ported his rifle and led the two girls out of the small camp site.

More out of habit than any need to do so, Lee grabbed a branch and gave the campsite a good sweeping to fluff the matted leaves and dirt and disguise that they had slept there. He was more concerned with the threat of infected than he was with anyone attempting to track them. But the party from yesterday was still something he had to think about.

When the site was sufficiently “cleaned,” Lee tossed the branch into the woods and headed out after the group. When he caught up with them he walked next to Angela for a moment. “How are you guys feeling?”

She gave him a grim smile. “Hungry, thirsty, tired...everything hurts...but I’m glad to be off the roof.” The look of her smile changed to one of sincere appreciation. “Thank you for everything. You’ve been very kind.”

Lee waved it off. He looked at Abby and wanted to ask Angela how her daughter was handling the death of her father, but he wasn’t sure either of them was ready to talk about it. Though she obviously was no commando, she’d been through the ringer and held up quite well. Lee could appreciate the amount of self-control and understanding it must take for her to be able to trust the man that shot her husband, even if her husband had been out of his mind when it happened. He wondered briefly if there were other circumstances unbeknownst to him that made the death of their husband and father less emotionally devastating. Perhaps the marriage had been in trouble.

Or maybe Angela was simply as tough as she appeared to be.

He supposed that if she decided to stick around, she would be ready to talk about these things on her own time. And Lee had weightier matters to focus his attention on than Angela’s former home life.

He took a few long strides and walked next to Jack.

“Captain Harden,” Jack said with a shit-eating grin. “And how’s life treating you this fine morning?”

Lee regarded the older man with a blank look. It struck him that Jack might take a while to figure out, but Lee’s immediate take on him was that he was the type of guy that loved being a Marine, loved being in danger, and loved most of all, a reason to carry a high-powered rifle. None of which were bad things at all, especially given the circumstances they found themselves in. People like that might be border-line sociopaths, but they did very well for themselves in crisis situations because they thought independently and functioned well in situations where others would assume the fetal position.

“I’m doing okay,” Lee eventually answered. “I’m not positive how far out we are, but if we keep parallel to the road and head east, I think we should make it by early afternoon.”

“Which side of the road is your place on?”

“The other side.”

“We’ll need to cross.”

“Yeah...” Lee trailed off. “So, Jack, what was your MOS in the Marines?”

“Scout sniper. Just like my pops.” Jack’s eyes scanned the woods as he walked. “Planned on bein’ a lifer, but God and the hadjis had different plans.”

Lee decided he’d bite. “How’s that?”

Jack removed his dirty old baseball cap for the first time and turned so Lee could see the left side of his head. There was a thick scar that ran from his temple all the way back to his crown, then curved down towards his ear.

“Ouch,” was all Lee could think of.

Jack replaced his ball cap. “Just got done with one of the most dangerous missions I ever been on. Drivin’ in a Humvee from the rally point back to base, and an IED goes off right underneath us. Well,” Jack grimaced. “Right underneath the driver, anyways. They didn’t find much of him. I was in a coma for two weeks. Had brain damage. They did surgery and now I can’t see too well out my left eye. They said they don’t know whether it was the brain surgery or the trauma that caused me to lose my vision, but in either case, I got my papers about a week after they found out I couldn’t see no more. ‘Thanks for everything, and all, but we can’t use you anymore.’” Jack turned and smiled. “Guess I’m just lucky.”

Lee found it hard to smile at the story. “At least you have a sense of humor about it."

“Nope.” Jack wiped a bead of sweat from his nose. “I really was lucky. It was a coordinated attack. We were in the lead Humvee and the IED they used on me was supposed to be for the guys in the back Humvee. About a mile down the road, they find a guy sitting in a pickup loaded with enough explosives to turn us all into jelly. The guy in charge of setting off the IED fucked everything up. If he hadn’t blown the IED early, the guy in the pickup truck would have pretty much incinerated us. So now, I thank my lucky stars that God’s merciful and the hadjis are incompetent.”

Lee actually chuckled for the first time in a while. It felt good.

“What about you, captain? How’d you do your time?”

“Well, my butter bar years were spent in Iraq, in a Humvee, patrolling Baghdad.” Lee downplayed his own history, because swapping war stories wasn’t the reason he wanted to talk to Jack. “I did that for two tours, and then they gave me captain and offered to build me a house and a bunker and all I had to do was be prepared to rebuild civilization at the drop of a hat.” Lee’s voice was good humored, but sarcastic.

Jack nodded. “All in a day’s work, my friend.”

They walked for a long moment, at which point Lee asked, “So how long has it been like this?”

“Like what?” Jack looked around. “Hot and humid?”

Lee reworded the question. “When’s the last time you saw a cop? Anyone from FEMA? Any members of the military still working for the government?”

“Aah...” Jack gave him a weird look, like he was picturing something else while looking at Lee. “Last cop I saw was when I was makin’ my way through Clinton, about two weeks ago. Him and about thirty infected chasin’ him. He ran around a corner. Don’t know what happened after that.”

Lee and Jack walked in silence for a moment, wondering if the cop had made it. Probably not.

Jack continued. “Then I saw three helicopters, comin’ outta Raleigh area about two days later. Flyin’ low and fast. One was smoking pretty bad, but I never saw if it went down. After that, all I seen are infected and bands o’ thugs like yesterday.”

Angela had made her way up to the men. “I saw a cop about a week ago when we tried to go to the store and buy some food. He had his shotgun. I remember him because I’ve never seen a police officer look scared. He was pulling out as we were pulling in. Stopped and told us that the store was closed. Then he drove off real fast.” She paused for a long moment. Her voice became quieter. “We could hear screaming from inside, though, but all the doors were boarded shut. We think they locked a bunch of infected inside. We went home after that.” Angela tried to put on a smile that didn’t fit. “Ate canned green beans and corn by candlelight because the power was out...we joked around that it took the power going out for us to have a candlelight dinner together...”

Lee and Jack exchanged a glance. “How long has the power been out?”

Angela seemed to realize he was talking to her and snapped out of her memory. “Um...maybe a week and a half ago? It’s hard to tell. The days kind of run together.”

Jack’s eyebrows narrowed at Lee. “Wait...do you have power?”

Lee looked at the two expectant faces staring at him. “Yes. My house and my bunker are wired to a battery bank. It’s trickle charged by solar panels throughout the day.”

“So...” Angela looked like she was thinking it was too good to be true. “...When do the batteries run out?”

“They don’t. The solar panels recharge them.”

“So you have power indefinitely?”

“Pretty much.”

The look on Angela’s face could almost be called wonder. “Like...air conditioning and everything?”

“Air conditioning, hot water, you name it.” Lee smiled at Angela and Jack who were looking at him like he was St. Peter taking them into heaven. “Being down there, it’s almost like the old world.”

“I’m taking a hot shower.” Angela declared, as though checking something off of her bucket list.

Jack smiled wistfully. “I’m gonna have a big ol’ glass of cold water.” He looked at Lee. “Assuming you have a fridge.”

“Yup.” Lee switched topics. “I need to really talk to you both about what’s been going on. Keep in mind that, while I have some nice supplies, you guys are the ones with all the knowledge. I need you both to bring me up to speed.”

“Sure.” Angela shrugged. “What do you want to know?”

“Either of you seen that group of guys from yesterday?”

Angela shook her head, but Jack’s face just sneered. “You mean the cocksuckers that stole all that military equipment? Yeah...I seen ‘em before.”

“I guess that answers my next question.” Lee shifted his pack. “Obviously you think they’re civilians that raided an armory.”

“Or took out a guard unit and stole their shit. National guard was all over this place about a week and a half ago. Had choppers flying everywhere and Humvees escorting busloads of evacuees to FEMA camps.”

Angela spoke up, but seemed to speak quietly, like she didn’t want to piss Jack off. “They seemed like military to me.”

Jack’s face screwed up. “Listen, honey...”

Lee decided to interrupt before another argument erupted. “I think she has a point, Jack. I agree that the majority of them look like they don’t know what they’re doing, but there were a few that moved like soldiers.”

Jack was silent.

Lee continued. “Have you heard of any units going rogue?”

The older marine was quiet for a long moment as they trudged along. “I s’pose it’s possible, but I haven’t heard nothin’ ‘bout any particular unit going rogue. Maybe we should ask them next time.”

Lee patted him on the shoulder once. “I’ll leave that to you. Whatever they are, what have you heard about them?”

“Well,” Jack shifted the strap of his rifle. “I’ve heard all kinds of things from people I come across while gettin’ here. Some folks say they’re out rapin’ and murderin’. Others are saying they’re going around looking for people that will offer them supplies so they can continue their mission, which is to ostensibly eliminate everyone that’s infected. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I think they probably have it in their head that they’re going to put a dent in this epidemic by wiping out the infected population, and that they’re going around ‘requesting’ donations from people. Maybe they get a little heavy- handed if donations aren’t made. Maybe they get a little jumpy with the trigger sometimes.”

Lee snorted. “Like a protection racket.”

Angela spoke up. “That’s sick how people take advantage of situations like this.”

“There’s a power-vacuum,” Lee stated. “Every yahoo with a gun and something to prove is going to be trying to fill that void. Some are going to be worse than others.”

Angela looked right at Lee. “But you’re not one of them?”

Lee tried not to take offense. He smiled instead. “I’m not a ‘yahoo with a gun.’ I’m a member of the United States military. And I’m not looking for power either. Just trying to help.”

Jack stopped walking.

The two girls stopped close behind him, and Lee immediately brought his rifle to a low-ready and scanned the trees. “What’s up?”

Jack’s head was lifted skyward just slightly, and Lee thought he heard him take a deep breath through his nose. “You smell that?” he asked.

Lee took a moment to sniff the air and caught it. “Smells like something’s burning.”

Jack nodded. “Wind’s blowing from the east a bit. Doesn’t smell good...not like woodsmoke.”

Lee knew the scent quite well. He’d smelled it several times during the Iraq invasion. It was the smell of artificial products burning, like plastic on fire. It was a rank, noxious smell when you were up close, but now it only tinged the air. When he smelled it again he thought of dusty streets, everything in sandy desert tones, walls close in and high up, dark windows staring down, everything tainted with the residue of smoke and pock- marked with bullet holes.

Everyone was silent for a long minute, considering what this meant, like they were all seers watching a hawk fly by, determining the secret omen it bore.

Lee turned slightly to the left and pointed. “The road should be that way.” He began walking in that direction. “We should cross now.”

Without argument, the other three followed.

[Laager]

I have a real bad feeling that Lee is not going to like what they find, when they find out what is burning. Great chapter.....looking forward to the next chapter.

[223shooteresc]

thanks for the new chapter, I hope Lee's house isn't on fire

[dantheremaining]

**Start of Chapter 12**

It didn’t take long for them to reach the road.

In more normal times, Lee had walked these woods for pleasure and exercise. He’d always find his way back to the road by the sound of cars passing by, like the sound of a river. Now the road was empty and silent and Lee almost stepped out onto the asphalt before he realized he was there.

The party stopped just inside the wood-line. Past the trees, the shoulder of the road rose slightly to the asphalt. Jack offered to check it out, and Lee deferred. He knelt down, Angela and Abby hovering close behind him, while Jack low-crawled up to the road to survey in both directions.

“How far is your house, mister?” Abby whispered.

Lee looked both directions down the road, but being in the woods had disoriented him to what section of the road this was. He could be a mile from his house, or ten. Luckily, he’d been keeping steady track of the amount of time they’d been walking, and ran some quick numbers in his head.

“Rough guesstimate...maybe two miles?”

Abby didn’t answer. The kid was being a trooper hanging in there, but when a kid didn’t complain, you had to wonder what was wrong. Lee’s best guess was that she was so tired and dehydrated that she didn’t have the energy to complain. Her body and her mind were in survival mode.

He turned and looked at the two girls.

Both of them looked rough, to say the least. The few bottles of water he’d been able to give them would have barely hydrated them in the state they were when they came off the roof, and certainly not now after a day of hiking. He noticed that Angela was massaging her thigh and he suspected muscle cramps.

He needed to get an IV in both of them. They couldn’t go on like this forever. He was pretty sure they could make it to the house, though. And then he could rehydrate them and get them back into working shape.

A quiet whistle drew his attention back to the road.

Jack was still on his belly, on the shoulder of the road. He looked back at Lee and gave a thumbs up.

Lee turned back to the girls. “You guys ready? We’re almost there.”

They both stood slowly and Lee motioned them forward. Angela jogged with her little girl across the road and disappeared into the woods on the other side. Lee waited until they were safe in the woods, then crossed quickly, Jack following closely behind. They continued into the woods until they could just barely make out the black top, and then turned due east, heading once again in the direction of Lee’s house.

As they walked, Lee noticed that the acrid smell of burning materials had grown slightly stronger. There was a slight haze hanging in the forest, but he could not tell if it was light smoke or the last bit of due burning off in the warming sun. He kept his observations to himself, as he did not believe they would serve any purpose but to worry the others. In his mind, he pictured his house burning to the ground, encircled by raiders dressed in leather, like extras out of Mad Max, all laughing and chanting like Indians around a bonfire.

They had hiked approximately another 200 yards when Lee heard what he initially thought was someone shouting, but then immediately recognized it as barking. Specifically, Tango’s barking.

“Whoa,” he held up a hand and everyone stopped walking. They all stood in the middle of the forest, straining eyes and ears for any signs of danger. “That’s my dog.”

“How can you tell?” Angela asked.

“I know Tango’s bark.”

“Thought he was in your bunker.” Jack spoke almost under his breath, as though he was pointing something out that would anger or embarrass Lee.

“He was.” Lee nodded. “If he’s out, the kid’s out.”

No one spoke. Tango barked three more times, and Lee realized he was getting closer. They were upwind and Tango had sniffed his master out. That was all good and well, but why the fuck was he outside to begin with?

The dog burst through a sheen of thick brush and came running full speed for Lee, tail circling wildly behind him like a propeller. Lee was glad to see Tango fine but he couldn’t help feel a greasy feeling of dread. Where was Sam? And what had happened?

He held up a hand and bent down to one knee as Tango approached, slowing to a trot, then coming to a halt before his master, tail sweeping an arc of leaves from the forest floor behind him. Just happy to see Lee.

Lee gave him a quick scratch on the head and then looked up to the woods. He didn’t have to wait for long before he saw a small, skinny figure running toward the group in that awkward prepubescent manner. Sam saw them, waved once, but then kept looking behind him, as though he were being pursued.

“Fuck...” Lee held his rifle at a low ready. “Something’s wrong.”

“Yep.” Jack apparently had come to the same conclusion.

Lee didn’t know what to expect from Sam, but the kid ran up and latched onto Lee, clinging around his waist, and it broke Lee’s heart. He wasn’t this kid’s father. He couldn’t be that person for him, and didn’t have the time even if he wanted to. This was survival, not a Social Services visit.

“Sam, what happened?” Lee asked sternly.

The kid was out of breath. He kept glancing back into the woods. He spoke between gulps of air. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. We thought you were dead.” Sam’s voice broke as he said the last part.

Damnit... Lee was trying not to be angry. “Why aren’t you in the bunker?”

“I took Tango outside so he could go to the bathroom. Then some Army men came. I was scared. They didn’t look nice. We hid in the woods, and they went into your house. They took everything out. Then they set it on fire.”

Lee stared down at this pathetic kid clinging to him like a life-raft. He had the sudden urge to give the kid a solid upper-cut and send him sprawling into the dirt.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Lee said without thinking.

“Captain!” Angela hissed behind him.

Immediately tears sprang into Sam’s eyes and Lee regretted yelling at the kid, though he was still pissed as hell.

“I said I was sorry.”

Sorry doesn’t stop my house from burning down, you little shit! But Lee kept it to himself this time. He removed the kid from his leg—perhaps a little roughly—and pushed him into Angela’s arms. “Watch him. And don’t go anywhere.” He looked at Jack. “You’re with me.”

Jack silently nodded and the two men took off at a run.

[Shanna_Redwind]

Oh dear. The easy times couldn't keep going.

He really should have given the kid some instruction about toileting the dog, even if he expected to be back soon. Some of the blame falls back on Lee's head, not a scared 10 year old who'd been left alone. He'll probably realize that when he calms down.

[Nancy1340]

Well crap!

Thanks for the new chapter.

[223shooteresc]

that falls under the heading life sucks and then you die

[Laager]

For some reason I just don't think that "sorry" would cut it for me............way behind enemy lines, low on supplies and now your supply lines have been cut and cut good.

[dantheremaining]

**Last half of Chapter 12**

The haze in the trees was thickening and above the forest canopy Lee could see a dark column of smoke rising into the sky. The smoke was dark tendrils and light-gray mixing together like cloudy, boiling water. Strange memories from old science classrooms: black smoke from petroleum products, white smoke from plant products.

“Captain...” Jack slapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

Lee slowed and stopped behind a cluster of trees. “What?”

Jack wiped sweat from his eyebrows. “What if they’re still there?”

Lee considered the odds. “If we take them by surprise and hit them hard, we can probably take out about six or seven.”

Jack didn’t look convinced.

“If you can get a good hide, I can start taking out any heavy weapons or vehicles they have.” Lee indicated his 40mm grenades, of which he had three left. “Attentions on me; you take out the survivors.”

“If your house is burned down, there’s no point in attacking them. It’s all risk and no gain.”

Lee knew Jack was right. “Fine. I’m comfortable saying we can take out five. If there’s more than five, we’ll leave it.”

Jack seemed to chew it over. “Alright. But give me some time to scout it out.”

“Agreed.” They started moving again, this time slower, watching their footsteps and gliding through the woods nearly without noise. When they had drawn closer to the house and the smoke was palatable, Jack motioned Lee to remain while he crept quietly forward. Lee took cover behind a large tree and settled down at the base of its trunk, watching Jack move forward like a big cat prowling.

The skeletal man slid easily through the woods, nearly to the point that Lee could not see him. Lee could tell that the woods opened up just ahead of Jack’s location, and at certain angles Lee thought he could see his house.

He watched Jack stand very still for several moments, then settled very slowly to the earth, propping his rifle up on a fallen log and scanning the area through his scope. Jack made four very careful, very slow arcs across his field of view. Lee watched impatiently, wondering how long the sniper was going to take.

After what was probably close to five minutes of complete silence, watching Jack reconnoiter the area, the sniper looked back in Lee’s direction and motioned very slowly with his hand to move forward, then patted the air just above the ground, indicating Lee should move stealthily.

Lee moved out of his cover smoothly and made his way towards Jack at a steady glide. When he got within about ten feet of Jack, he lowered his body to the ground and low-crawled up shoulder-to-shoulder with Jack. From his new vantage point, much closer to the edge of the woods, Lee could see his house.

Or what was left of it.

It was still on fire, although it was beginning to smolder. It had obviously been lit on fire several hours ago, as the fire had completely eaten the structure and the upstairs had collapsed in on itself. What little remained of the house jutted up out of the ground, burnt and uneven walls, sagging and torn down. Like the rib cage of a recently gutted animal.

For a moment, Lee couldn’t speak. It wasn’t the house that he was attached to. In fact, it wasn’t anything that he was attached to. It was purely a matter of survival that he now felt like a vice grip was being ratcheted down on his stomach. His house was superfluous, but now his bunker was covered in what looked like five feet of burning rubble. Inside were supplies that meant the difference between life and death. Desperately needed food and water were now inaccessible, if they were even still down there. In all likelihood, whatever raiding party had come along and burned his house, and cleaned it out of anything useful prior to lighting the match. The guns and ammo would be gone, without a doubt. Some of the more sensitive equipment they may have left alone—not knowing what it was or how it could help them just meant it was extra weight.

The second immediate concern was the medical supplies. He hadn’t truly concerned himself with the condition that Angela and Abby were in. The truth was, while he’d stabilized their malnutrition and dehydration as best he could with the supplies he’d had in his go-to-hell pack, they were both still in a bad state, and getting worse by the hour. He had been relying on the ability to get them to his bunker and stick them both with IV’s to rehydrate and stuff them with MRE’s for a few days to get their strength back up. Without that possibility, their chances looked bleaker by the minute.

And Lee didn’t have any food or water left in his pack. Without those essential supplies, he had to put a timeline on each of their lives. Lee and Jack were both fairly well fed and hydrated as of yesterday, which meant they could probably go without water for the next two days, given the heat and stress level. He gave Angela and Abby until the following night.

Without a word, Lee dropped his pack and knelt down on one knee. He unzipped one of the front pockets and thrust his hand in, rooting around for a second before withdrawing the GPS device. He knew it was in there, knew it was safe and still in his possession, but in that moment he needed to look at it and touch it. It was hope made tangible.

“What’s that?” Jack asked.

Lee just breathed a sigh of momentary relief and shoved the device back in the pack. “Let’s just say it’s an insurance policy.”

Lee hauled the pack onto his shoulders again.

Focus. Compartmentalize.

The bunker was no longer an option for shelter, but he had to get Angela, Abby and Sam into some sort of safe place. In order to do anything, he needed to know what, if anything, Jack had seen.

In a tone as calm as he could muster, Lee spoke. “You see anyone?”

“Not a soul.” Jack looked at Lee. “I’m pretty sure they burned the house just to fuck with you. They must’ve gotten your address from your truck.”

“My registration,” Lee nodded. The general, two-man consensus was that this had been done by the rogue Army unit. “I need to check out my neighbor’s house. We’re going to need to get our group in doors. Hopefully they didn’t burn that house down, too.”

Jack just shook his head. “Hoping is a bad habit these days.”

[Laager]

Hmmmm, I'm wondering if Lee or his handlers/higher ups established other safe areas. I guess only time will tell.

[Laager]

Hmmmm, I'm wondering if Lee or his handlers/higher ups established other safe areas. I guess only time will tell.

[223shooteresc]

hopefully they didn't find the tunnel

[dantheremaining]

**First half of Chapter 13**

The pair moved swiftly across Lee’s property. Lee fought to keep his eyes scanning for threats and not to simply stare at the burning wreckage of his home. He was scared now. His attitude had been somewhat lax, removed from the reality of his situation. He’d felt safe sitting on top of all his readily-available supplies. Now, he had four more people following him, and his supplies were gone. The dire circumstances were becoming real to him. Real in the form of thirst, hunger, and diminishing ammunition.

The issue was time. He had less than 48 hours by his own estimation to get water to Angela and Abby. Food was less urgent, but Lee was still concerned about the amount of calories they were putting out with all this hiking. Even Jack seemed to be suffering, though he didn’t voice it. Lee’s own body was stronger and not as malnourished as the others. Lack of food was not a priority for himself as it was for the others.

Ammunition depended on how much trouble they ran into before he could get the group to a point of relative safety. Best case scenario, they didn’t get into anything before he could find a place for the group to sit tight for a while. Worst case scenario, they were attacked, ran out of ammunition, and were killed.

The smoke in the air cleared a bit as they moved further away from Lee’s burning house. They were moving into the wind blowing steadily from the west, and it seemed to be pushing most of the smoke away. They neared the edge of the woods and stopped, surveilling the Peterson’s house. Nothing appeared out of place. The graves in the back yard were still mounded high with freshly upturned soil. Lee noticed Jack giving them a hard look, but didn’t ask about them, and Lee didn’t really feel like talking about it.

After a few moments of watching, Lee decided to break the wood-line. Jack fell in behind him and they moved at a walking pace towards the back of the house. Everything still appeared as he left it. Jack mentioned quietly that there was a burning pickup truck in the front lawn that looked like it had been blown apart.

Lee nodded. “Yeah. That was from earlier.”

Jack didn’t prod further. Lee’s answer seemed to assuage his concern.

They entered through the back door and cleared the house. After it was clear, Jack walked into one of the upstairs bedrooms, Stephanie’s old room. “I’ll hole up here and keep watch while you go get everyone else.”

“Okay...if you get attacked...”

Jack smiled. “You’ll hear me shooting.”

Lee fished into his pack and retrieved the Smith & Wesson pistol he’d taken from Jason Peterson’s body, handing it butt-first to Jack. “It’s got a full mag. It’ll give you a little more time, at least.”

Jack took the pistol and stuck it in the back of his waistband.

Lee flicked him a quick salute. “Be back in a few.”

As Lee exited the house, he checked his corners to make sure there were no surprises, and then began moving with less caution. He covered the terrain at a jog, stopping if anything piqued his curiosity or didn’t sound right, but never for more than a few seconds before he continued on. He crossed the open lot of his house at a run, then fell back to a jog when he was back in the safety of the woods. A few hundred yards east, he found the three rescues crouched down near a large tree. Tango watched his master approach with a wagging tail.

Lee caught Angela’s eyes and jerked his head to the side. She rose from her crouch with the two children, telling them to stay there. Then she walked a few paces away and conferred quietly with Lee. “What did you find?”

As she spoke, Lee noticed her unsteadiness on her feet and the crusted salt deposits around her eyes, nose and mouth. Her dehydration was worse than Abby’s. Lee figured she’d given her daughter most of the water when they were on the rooftop. He had several diagnostic questions pop into his head to clarify the extent of her dehydration, but he thought it better to wait until they were indoors.

“My house is gone, but my neighbor’s house is still there. We’re gonna hole up in there.”

Angela looked heartbroken. “What about...the medical supplies? What about Abbey? How are you gonna help her?”

Lee shook his head. “I don’t have any medical supplies right now.”

Angela’s worn face contorted like she was about to start crying. Or maybe her body simply didn’t have the moisture to spare for tears.

“Look, we have some time...it’s just not much.” Lee put his hand on Angela’s shoulder. It felt frail and bony. “We’re going to get you guys indoors, and we’ll figure it out from there.”

“What if she doesn’t make it?” Angela croaked. “I can’t do it. I can’t lose her...I can’t lose anyone else.”

Her voice was low enough that the kids couldn’t understand her, but they understood the tone and looked up in that way that children do when they know something is wrong.

“Angela, she’s going to make it.” Lee had no way to back up that promise. “We’ll do whatever we have to do. But right now we need to go.”

Lee didn’t wait for an answer. He turned Angela so she was facing the correct direction, then beckoned for the kids to join them. They both shuffled to their feet. Lee led the group through the woods, taking the same way he’d travelled the previous two times. Urgency spurred him on, but he forced himself to keep the pace slow so the kids could keep up.

For the first time he noticed his own body showing the signs of fatigue through hunger and dehydration. Besides the hunger, which he’d learned to ignore long ago, his hands felt shaky, and his mouth was getting dry. Every once in a while, despite the heat of the day, he felt a chill work its way through his body.

They made the walk to the Peterson’s house in about twice the time it had taken Lee to get to the group. He listened the entire time for the telltale sound of Jack’s rifle, but all was silent. They approached the house, and Lee saw Jack peer at them from an upstairs window, then gave the “OK” symbol with his fingers.

Once inside, Abby stared at the splashes of blood across the living room carpet and in the kitchen while Angela tried to act like she didn’t notice anything. Lee guided the girls past the gore marks, through the hallway, and into the dining room at the front of the house.

From where they were, Jack could be seen leaning over the top of the stairs to the second floor.

“Everyone okay?” he asked.

“Yeah...” Lee looked up. “I need you to keep watch while I try to get some water for the girls.”

Sam spoke up. “I’m thirsty, too.”

“Buddy,” Lee tried to keep his voice lighthearted, tried to disguise the severity of the situation. “We’re all thirsty, but the girls need the water more than us, alright?”

Sam hung his head. Lee felt guilty and exasperated at the same time. He was doing his best with this kid, but having no parental experience he didn’t know what was appropriate to say to kids and what was not. Sam would just have to deal with it for now. He hoped that when things calmed down a bit, Jack and Angela could take over being the parents. He wasn’t sure if Jack had ever had any kids, but he was sure that he’d do a better job than Lee was doing.

Lee pulled out a few chairs from around the dining table. “Angela, Abby, go ahead and sit down. I’m going to try to find you guys some water.”

Leaving the girls in the dining room, he went into the kitchen. The bloody mess left behind by Maria’s butchered body had crusted over, but still managed to stick to his boots. The whole house was starting to stink. He rifled through the cupboards and cabinets and came up with a plastic pitcher and a coffee mug. Taking these, he went to the sink and put the coffee mug under the faucet. He hoped there was enough pressure in the pipes to give a little bit of water.

Turning on the faucet yielded a pathetic groan from the pipes and a tiny squirt of water that filled the coffee mug about halfway. Without humor, Lee thought that this was definitely a case of the glass being half empty.

Nevertheless, he deposited the bit he had into the pitcher and headed for the downstairs bathroom, which was near to the front door. The smell from the bathroom was obvious and not a good sign. He went to the toilet and removed the top to the reservoir tank. Again, he was disappointed with a bone-dry tank. It was obvious the toilet was filled with feces and the Peterson’s had apparently continued attempting to flush until all the water was gone from their pipes. With no water from pipes, it was impossible for the reservoir to refill itself.

Swearing, Lee left the bathroom and ran up the stairs to the upstairs bathroom only to find the same situation in this one. This presented another, less pressing issue. Latrines where feces and urine was collected and not flushed were horrible for accumulating bacteria and disease. If they were forced to stay in the Peterson’s house for any length of time, they would have to set up latrines somewhere else. As it was, he didn’t want anyone going into either of the bathrooms.

His last ditch effort was in the garage. He went down to the first floor and exited into the garage via the door in the kitchen. He was greeted with a positive amongst all the negatives: the Peterson’s Ford F-150 was still sitting in the garage. Lee hoped that he could find the keys, and that the Peterson’s had left him a little fuel. The roads weren’t the safest route to travel in these circumstances—in fact, they were decidedly deadly—but Lee was trying to count the little things. If they needed emergency transportation, they had it... maybe.

Off to the side of the garage, Lee opened the utility closet and found the hot water heater. Dropping his go-to-hell pack, he extracted his knife from inside and tapped the side of the water heater. The sound was the best sound he had heard all day.

“Thank you, Jesus,” He mumbled.

He’d tapped the tank low to the ground. He estimated that there were at least a few gallons from the point he’d tapped. Just to test, he tapped a little higher. This time he heard a hollow clank. So there wasn’t much water in the tank, but a few gallons was better than nothing.

He crammed the pitcher under the drain spout for the water heater and cranked the ball valve. Clear water flowed out and Lee thought it looked beautiful. With the angle he had to tilt the pitcher, he was only able to fill it about halfway. He brought the pitcher of water back into the house, carrying it like it was liquid gold. He grabbed another cup from the kitchen cabinets and took everything into the dining room.

The look on Angela’s face was one of immense relief.

Lee poured a glass of water for both of them, speaking as he handed them out. “Drink it very slow. You’re both extremely dehydrated and if you drink it too fast you’re going to throw it up. Take a sip, then wait a minute before taking another one. Keep doing it until the pitcher’s gone.” Lee looked at Angela. “There’s another gallon or two in that tank outside, so don’t give it all to Abby. You need it more anyways.”

The girls didn’t answer as they were busy sipping.

“Captain...”

Lee turned and found Jack leaning over the stairs and waving him over. Jack jerked his head upstairs. “Bad news,” he said.