AB (The Blake Reynolds Chronicles Book 1) (15 page)

It was late in the evening, and Lord
Dameon was going over the latest status reports on the progress they were
making with the transmitter. Things were moving along nicely, and he knew they should
be finished in the next few days. He was about to go to bed for the night when
one of his brothers from down south entered his office. He was accompanied by a
large guard who stood watch outside the building.

The man with the dark complexion was
breathing heavily and couldn’t speak. With the darkness outside, the candle in
the office gave the room a soft glow. Lord Dameon extended his arm out and
pointed to the chair in front of the desk. “Brother, please sit. It appears
that you have had a long journey. How is the kingdom progressing down south?”

The man had finally recovered enough
of his breath to speak. His speech was somewhat mumbled and full of clicks and
stutters. “The purging of the unclean in our area is going extremely slow. They
fight with immense courage, and we are poorly equipped to fight men with guns.
Each day, we lose many of our brothers and sisters, but so do they. But that is
not why I have been sent. I have a message for you.”

He stood and pulled the envelope
from the pocket of his jacket and handed it to Lord Dameon. “Earlier in the day,
four helicopters came to our area. We fought hard and won a small victory. We
were able to bring down one of their helicopters before they retreated. We were
also able to capture one of the unclean and brought him in for questioning.
That is all I know; the rest is in the letter.”

Lord Dameon grabbed the letter and turned
it in his hand for several seconds before he thanked his brother and dismissed
him. He pulled the letter opener from his desk and carefully opened the
envelope. He withdrew the single sheet of paper, moved the candle a little
closer, and slowly pored over the words.

My Lord,

My name is Sir, and I control the areas down south. Earlier
today, we captured an unclean helicopter pilot in our area. After some
persuasion, we discovered some disturbing news. It appears that the unclean were
sent to our area to retrieve a man they believe has something in his blood that
will allow them to take away our gift. They will use it to destroy us or turn
us back into one of them. We learned that the name of this man is “James.”

They were to deliver him to Camp Pendleton this afternoon
and then take him out to a ship off the San Clemente Pier in the morning. Please,
for the sake of us all, don’t let this happen!

-Sir

Lord Dameon placed the letter on his
desk, leaned back in his chair, and placed his hands on top of his head. He sat
there for several minutes until a slight grin spread across his face. He called
for the guard at the front door and ordered him to go to each of the members of
the council.

“Ask them to assemble in my office
in thirty minutes. Tell them it is of the utmost urgency.”

The guard rushed away, and Lord
Dameon waited. One by one, his brothers and sisters trickled into the room. Once
the last of the council members had arrived, Lord Dameon stood at the head of
the table and gave a brief summary of what was contained in the letter. As the
meeting progressed, his speech quickened. He abruptly stopped and leaned
forward. He frowned at each person and sighed.

“Brother and Sisters, as you can
imagine, we can’t let these unclean heathens follow through with their plans to
take this gift away from us. We have worked too hard and sacrificed too much.
The reason I have called the council together is to devise a plan to kill or
capture this ‘James.’”

Everyone nodded, then a woman in the
back raised her hand and stood. “Lord Dameon, what would you have us do?”

“Bless you, Sister, for your faith.
I have put some thought into this.” He turned to his officer in charge. “How
many men do you have in your command that we can pull off patrols and use for
this mission?”

”About a hundred,” the large man in
jeans and a tight T-shirt replied.

“Out of those, how many are capable of
fighting in close quarters and are not afraid of water?”

The man tugged on his chin as he pondered
the question. “Eight or ten, if you include me.”

“Excellent. This is what I want you
to do…”

Blake had difficulty
sleeping, especially after the events from the previous day. At 0500, he
couldn’t stand lying in bed anymore so he sat up and decided to go for a walk.
As he strolled down the row of tents, he walked north not heading any place particular.
As he approached Munns’s family’s tent, he could slightly see a silhouette on
the side of their tent of someone standing in front of it.

“That’s weird…”
he thought, seeing it was still dark. He didn’t think anyone knew he was there,
so he decided to approach from the back to sneak up on whomever it was.

As he walked around
the edge of the tent near the shadowy figure, Blake drew out his knife, just in
case. As he prepared to attack, Blake smelled smoke from a Camel cigarette. He immediately
recognized the smell of Munns’s favorite brand and placed the knife back in the
sheath. He stepped out of the shadow of the tent.

“You couldn’t
sleep, either?”

Munns
instinctively dropped into a fighting position directed towards the voice. The
light of the moon reflected off of Blake's face, but he still threw a fake
punch at Blake. “You scared the shit out of me!”

Blake smiled.
“I couldn’t sleep much, either. So how is your family handling things?”

“My kids think
this is just some great camping adventure. My wife, on the other hand, spends
most of her time worrying about the future. She isn’t a trained soldier like
Tara and doesn’t deal with the stress of surviving in a hell-hole like this very
well.”

“If you want, I
can ask Tara to speak with her later today.”

“Thanks. She
could use a close friend now.”

“Well, Munns, I
will see you in a couple of hours. Thanks for agreeing to deliver James with
me. It should be a simple mission.”

“No problem.
Good night, or morning… whichever it is.” They both chuckled and Blake walked
back to his tent.

Blake crawled
back into bed next to Tara for another thirty minutes. However, he couldn’t get
his mind to slow down long enough to fall back asleep. The alarm on his watch
went off at 0600. As he sat up, Tara rolled over, grabbed his wrist, and pulled
him back down. She grabbed his arm and wrapped it around her.

“Do you really
have to go?” Tara mumbled groggily.

Blake hated
when she cuddled him before he had to leave. It tore at his two greatest loves:
family and duty.

“Sorry, Babe, I
have to go save the world.”

“I guess that’s
what I get for marrying a superhero,” she teased as she let him slip out of
bed.

He kissed Tara
passionately and gave Kaya a gentle peck on the forehead. “I love you, Sweetie,”
he whispered before stepping outside.

At 0700, the sun
began to creep over the horizon. Blake and his team assembled in the commander’s
office. Their resources were stretched thin, but this was an extremely critical
mission. Blake’s team would consist of an armored personnel carrier and one Hummer.
He would drive the armored personnel carrier accompanied by Munns, and a
corporal and private would drive the lead Humvee mounted with the fifty-caliber
machine gun.

It was decided
that the safest course would be to head west to the coast and then head south
along the pedestrian beach trail to the pier. The trip west would mostly be in
a cleared-out zone, and the stretch south would be bypassing the heart of the ABs’
zone. Once they reached the pier, they would hand James off to a four-man SEAL team
who would take him out to the ship.

As they
journeyed to the coast along Pico Road, it was uneventful. Once they reached
the beach trail, the sand slowed the progress of the convoy. However, it wasn’t
anything that the vehicle wasn’t designed to handle. It would be only a few
miles before they delivered James.

Blake breathed in
the smell of the ocean as they drove along the beachfront. To the west, Blake
could see two large ships that looked as if they were anchored. One seemed like
a Navy destroyer, and the other appeared to be a hospital ship. Blake couldn’t
help but get an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He knew all too well that when
things become quiet out on patrol, something terrible always happens.

As the patrol
got to within a quarter mile of the pier, Blake saw a small rubber pontoon boat
on the water approaching the beach at a high rate of speed. On the left was the
Casa Romantica Cultural Center, which he and his wife had been to a couple of
times. A few pleasant memories flew through his mind. On the right were a small
beach house and a tourist shop. He hadn’t expected to see any signs of life out
here because it was the ABs’ zone, but all reports indicated that they had
congregated closer to the center of town. Suddenly, Blake was caught off guard
when he noticed some movement coming from the edges of the two buildings on
both sides of the road.

Blake held the radio
to his mouth. “Hold up. We have movement at a hundred yards, both sides of the
trail.”

As Blake assessed
the situation, he considered taking the patrol along the water’s edge to avoid
getting caught in any crossfire situations. However, he changed his mind,
remembering how heavy his vehicle was. It had a reputation of getting stuck in
the sand. Blake sent the lead Hummer ahead to scout out the remaining trail and
make contact with the SEAL team. If everything was clear, they would radio it
in and proceed.

Slowly, the Hummer
moved towards the dock. A mindless AB jumped from behind the building on the
left. It didn’t even seem to be aware of their presence. On the right, there were
a couple dogs rummaging through some scattered garbage on the ground.

They stopped at
the end of the pier. Blake could see the four SEALs moving from building to
building, making sure the area was clear. The Marines knew they should wait
until they received the “all clear” signal from the SEALs before they exited
their vehicle.

Blake couldn’t
tell what was going on at the pier because his view was partially blocked by the
building on his left. He leaned over to Munns and whispered, “This is taking
too long, and I don’t like it.” Blake couldn’t take the waiting any longer and was
about to throw caution to the wind when the lead vehicle’s driver broke the
silence on the radio.

“The SEALs have
secured the area. You’re clear to proceed.”

Blake breathed a sigh of relief and
slowly proceeded forward. As his vehicle approached the turn-off to the pier
parking lot, Blake could see his men and SEALs to his right discussing
something in a small circle.

“What in the
hell can they be talking about? Come on, guys,” he mumbled to himself.

As he prepared
to make a turn into the parking lot, he caught a flash of yellow in his
peripheral vision. Before he could turn his head to see what it was, a large
school bus plowed down a short dirt embankment on the left side of the road.
Before he could react, his vehicle smashed onto its left side. The sound of
twisting and tearing metal filled the air, and the three soldiers inside were
violently thrown to the left of the vehicle. Luckily, they were all wearing
their seat belts and were uninjured.

“Hold on,” Blake
yelled to no one in particular as he tried to throw the vehicle into reverse. There
was the sound of metal grinding on metal, and the vehicle wouldn’t move more
than a few inches.

He could see
that the driver of the bus had flown through the window and was spread across
what was left of his hood. He was bleeding profusely, and his body was
positioned in unnatural angles.

Only seconds
after the crash, ABs poured out of the buildings on both sides of the trail.
They also approached from behind the twisted mess of tangled metal that used to
be their vehicle.

Blake took a
quick glance at the approaching enemy as the bullets started to bounce off of
their vehicle. These ABs seemed to act much differently than the ABs that they
had encountered before. Instead of mindless drones that charged straight into
fire, hell-bent on killing, these ABs were using shoot and cover tactics.

Blake, Munns,
and James fired from the gun ports built into their carrier, but the hatches
limited their kill zones.

The SEALs and
two Marines on the dock immediately started running towards the fight with
their rifles raised.

As the
firefight began, Blake could smell gas. He turned to the front of the vehicle
and noticed a small fire burning in the cab of the bus.

“Guys, we have
a worse problem than the ABs out there… That bus is about to explode along with
us! Any ideas on how to get out of here?” he yelled.

James was covering
the back, laying down fire as fast as he could shoot. “There’s no way we’re
getting out the back. There are at least twenty ABs approaching!”

“Munns, how
about you?”

“Maybe we can
make it to that restroom twenty yards down the trail, but we will have to leave
quickly. It’ll be crawling with ABs within seconds. I also see our guys coming
up the trail, so it’ll be our only chance.”

“OK, let’s move!”

The three men
leaped out of the front passenger side door. They ran about ten feet from their
vehicle before the bus exploded and knocked them to the ground. As they
scrambled off their knees, the spray of sand and ping of ricocheting bullets
surrounded them. They sprinted towards the restrooms in front of them as the
other SEALs and Marines came around the corner of the building to lay down cover
fire as they ran to meet them. Blake could hear bodies dropping behind them but
didn’t dare take the time to look. About ten feet away, Blake could hear Munns
and James breathing heavily. However, the noise reassured him that they were
still alive and running.

Blake heard a yell
from Munns; he turned and saw his friend with his hand placed on his side. A
bullet struck him just below the bottom of his body armor vest on his right.

“Munns, you
still in the fight?” Blake yelled.

“It’s just a
scratch.”

“Hopefully…”
Blake thought as they both continued running. When they were within a few yards
of the restroom, Blake silently screamed inside. Two AB soldiers came out in
full battle gear. The SEALs and Blake’s two men had their backs turned so they
couldn’t see what was about to happen. Before Blake could warn them, the enemy fired.
Immediately, Blake’s two Marines were cut down by the AB on the left. Two SEALs
on the right also went down.

The other two SEALs
dove to the ground, rolled, and fired at the AB on the left. Blake, Munns, and
James opened fire on the AB on the right. The AB’s body armor only protected
them for a few seconds as their bodies flew back against the wall. However,
they slowly slid to the ground as their blood painted the wall behind them.

Blake checked
the pulse of his two Marines but cursed because they were gone. He then glanced
at the two unwounded SEALs and signaled for them to get their men into the
restrooms for cover. The two SEALs dragged their wounded men inside and started
to render first aid. Blake, Munns, and James kept watch for another wave of
attack.

Behind them, Blake
could hear the yelling of the SEALs as they tried to save their fellow soldiers.

“Don’t you die
on me!” a man shouted. Blake could even hear him pounding the man’s chest.

“Stop, he’s
gone! Come help me with Private Mains – he still has a chance,” someone yelled
back.

Blake scanned
their surroundings but couldn’t see any more of the enemy. “We must’ve hit them
harder than I thought,” he considered.

Blake left
James to provide cover while he walked over to Munns. “Let me take a look at
that wound.”

Munns spit on
the ground and said, “It’s nothing. Go help someone that needs it!”

Blake leaned
close to Munns’s face. “Do I have to give you an order?”

Munns groaned, laid
down his weapon, took off his vest, and pulled up his shirt. The bullet had
gone through clean without hitting anything serious but bled quite a bit.

Blake pulled
out his small medical kit. He placed some powder on both sides of the wound,
covered it with a large bandage, and then wrapped it.

Munns winced
every time Blake touched the wound. “I think you’re enjoying this a little too
much.” He grimaced.

Blake wanted to
smile, but he knew he just lost two of his men and more were dying.

The remaining SEAL
officer walked over to Blake. “My SEAL will be dead in thirty minutes if we
don’t get him out of here. Your man looks like he could also use some medical
attention. There’s a medical ship, about a ten-minute boat ride, offshore. I
think you should go off mission and help me get my man and yours to that ship
and deliver James.”

Blake knew it
was the right call so he helped load the wounded SEAL into the boat.

The boat ride passed
quickly, and one of the SEALs drove the boat while the other attended to the
unconscious wounded SEAL. Every time they hit a wave, Blake noticed Munns
wince. He made a mental note that once he got on the ship he would radio his
base to report his status and also get word to Tara that he was OK.

Once they
reached the Mercy, several Marines hooked a winch to the boat and raised it to
the deck. Word must have gotten out that they had wounded because there were
several nurses with stretchers waiting nearby.

Several Marines
were ordered to escort James and Blake to the captain’s conference room. Blake
glanced at Munns and smiled reassuringly.

Blake and James
entered the small conference room, which was empty and dimly lit. They walked
to the two nearest chairs and collapsed into them gratefully.

A few minutes passed
before a man in captain’s uniform and a woman with a white lab coat entered the
room. Blake and James both stood.

“Please be
seated,” the captain said. “Gentlemen, I hear you have both been through a lot
to get here. Even more, many men have given their lives. But their sacrifices will
not be in vain. We believe that what Ensign James has in his blood might hold
the cure or solution to end this apocalypse.”