Dead Air (Book One of The Dead Series) (14 page)

"I realize that,"
the Chairman said, "but we need to inform him, in the strongest possible terms, that the United States will be overrun by the living dead if we don't act now. Projections indicate that if a decisive move is not made within the next ninety-six hours, it will be too late."

"Maybe we should let it all collapse,"
the Naval Chief interjected. "Pull back and let it all fall apart, and then go in and pick up the pieces." Holding up a sheaf of papers, he said, "These reports show me that all we're doing is reacting to this virus. An outbreak is reported and we rush in to contain it, only to be distracted by another outbreak somewhere else. Then we rush off to contain that without having eradicated the first outbreak, which spreads again. We’re wasting our resources."

The men around the table were aware of th
is problem but didn't seem enthusiastic with the proposed solution, although a few did seem to be considering it. Seeing this small bit of support, the Naval Chief continued. "If the President won't declare martial law, then we need to have an alternative plan. We can pull back our forces to our secure bases and hold fast. Once the disease has run its course, we move back in and reclaim the cities."

The Commandant of the Marine Corps asked with disdain, "And just leave the American public to the mercy of horde
s of flesh eating zombies?"

Always politically correct, the Admiral replied, "You mean those poor individuals unfortunate enough to be infected by the HWNW virus?"

"You know what the hell I mean," The Commandant spit back. "You've read the reports and seen the video footage. We need to do something about this problem now."

The men around the table were silent until the Chairman spoke up. "We cannot use the regular armed forces on United States soil until martial law is declared. Anything to the contrary would be considered seditious. We've already bent the rules by placing Army Special Forces advisors with some of the National Guard units in the Midwest
, and I won't push it further than that." Turning to the Admiral, the Chairman said, "Put together a tentative plan on what we need to do to pull our forces back; and how we would retake the infected areas once the disease has run its course."

The Naval Chief gave his Marine counterpart a smug look a he replied, "Aye, aye, sir."

Ever the peacekeeper, the Chairman continued, "While you're working on that Admiral, we also need to come up with a plan to reinforce the National Guard units that are bearing the brunt of working in the infected areas. When martial law is declared, I don't want anything to delay us from moving in." Turning to the Marine General he said, "I want a list of forty, platoon sized elements that we can deploy to the hardest hit Guard units the instant martial law is declared. A comprehensive plan is needed for the dispersal of units, which will follow this initial force of Marines. We have some contingency plans we can use as a basis, but they need to be worked over to be more specific to the needs of this crisis. No one ever planned on the dead coming back to life, so we need to adapt them to this situation. I'm putting you in charge of this, General."

Now it was the Commandants
turn to look smug.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs cleared his throat and said, "Next order of business is the media. They've been cooperating thus far
, but I've been informed by the Press Secretary that this cooperation ends as of 1700 this evening. They're complaining that their ratings have gone down as more people turn to the Internet for the news. Although we've had control of what they've reported up until now, the situation has deteriorated to the point where we don't hold as much power over them as we once did.  There's not much we can do to stop them from reporting on what's happening with the HWNW virus, and I'm surprised they've gone along with the media brown out for this long. Now we have to see how lifting the media muzzle will work to our advantage. Any thoughts on this matter?"

The Naval Chief spoke up first. "I think it will actually work to our advantage. An uninformed populace with nothing to fear will protest against anything
that might take away any of their rights. If we let the full story out, then there will be nationwide panic, which will work to our advantage. In the past, we've used the media to play on people’s fears in order to bring about changes that we felt were best for them, for example, the war on terror. We've hyped that to the point where we can pass any law that takes away a citizen’s constitutional rights, and Joe Q. Public is so worried about the terrorist attacks he's seen on television, he gladly hands his rights over so he can feel safer."

The Army Chief cut in
, "I agree, but I don't think we need to hype anything. When this story breaks, the people will be screaming for the Government to step in and protect them. I believe that this pressure will make the President more receptive to declaring nationwide martial law."

The others around the table concurred
, so no plan was made to try and delay or quash the lifting of the media brownout.

Everyone in the room was aware that
, while there was no way to keep the Internet from reporting on the disease, the mainstream media was a different story altogether.

For years the FBI and
the NSA had been compiling files on illegal or embarrassing behavior undertaken by everyone from media moguls, all the way down to the weather girl on the local news stations. With the threat of exposure hanging over them, combined with the threat of being descended upon by an army of IRS agents, the media had remained firmly in Uncle Sam's hip pocket, to do with as he pleased.

Seeing that the discussion regarding the media was at an end, the Chairman switched topics.

"Next order of business is the two wars we have going on in the Middle East. Once we're done with that, we can go over some of the additional situations developing in the United States."

Little Rock, Arkansas:

Lieutenant Jedidiah Cage looked out at the deserted streets of Little Rock through one of the observation slits in the gunner's turret of the MRAP he commanded. After checking his map, he picked up the microphone
that connected him to the driver and said, "One block up, Jones. Stop and let us scope it out."

Not waiting for a reply, Cage climbed down from the gun turret into the crew compartment, frowning at how bare it looked.
His command, 3rd Squad of 1st Platoon, had started out only a week previously with twelve men. Of those, only four were left.

Feeling the MRAP jerk to a halt, Cage leaned into the driver's compartment and said, "Hit 'em with the recording.
No one unasses this vehicle until I check out the area."

The driver nodded and leaned over to push a button mounted on the steering column. Instantly, speakers mounted on the front and back of the armored car came to life.

"Attention, attention, this is the Arkansas National Guard. We are here to evacuate the city. In a few minutes our men will be coming door to door to assist you in leaving your residence and relocating you to one of the safe zones in the city. Do not attempt to leave your shelter unless you are escorted by our men to one of the trucks."

"Attention, attention
...” The message started to repeat so Cage tuned it out. Moving to the rear of the MRAP, he looked out at the two stake bed trucks idling behind them.

Four hours into this operation and we've rescued a total of three civilians, Cage thought with disgust. It makes me wonder if people are in such shock that they're afraid to come out, or if there's no one left alive to come out. And if that isn't bad enough, now we find out that the
zombies have changed their tactics. They used to come staggering toward us when we stopped, but now they wait for us to come out of the trucks before they show themselves.

Cage reached up and pressed a button next to the rear hatch, causing a light on the back of the MRAP to flash. Seeing this signal, the driver of the lead truck revved his engine before pulling past the armored vehicle and coming to a halt twenty feet in front of it. As it passed, Cage noticed the hastily erected enclosure on the back of the truck. Heavy iron posts had been welded to its bed and covered on the top and sides by heavy chain link fencing.

We also learned the hard way not to transport living human beings on an open truck, Cage thought ruefully.

Cage told his remaining men to get ready as he moved to the forward bulkhead and unclipped a hand held radio from the charger mounted there. Pressing the transmit button, he called to the Guardsmen in the forward truck. "Second squad, this is Six, over."

Second squad had the most personnel left. Seven at last count. But the day was still young.

"This is Two, go ahead Six, over,"
came the reply.

"You're on the left, we're on the right. Maintain contact and don't get too far ahead of us, over."

"Roger that Six, over and out."

The gunner climbed into the turret and aimed the mounted .50 caliber heavy machine gun at the first house on the right.

Cage called to First squad in the truck to his rear and told them, the remaining five of them anyway, to be ready. They were the reaction team in case the defecation hit the oscillation. To keep it fair, this duty was rotated between all the squads, and not because it was the safest.

After he undid
the locking wheel on the rear hatch, Cage shouldered it open and said to his men, "Follow me," then jumped out onto the concrete street. His men trailed him, quickly fanning out in an arc to cover the area.

Seeing it was still clear, Cage led his men to the first house on his side of the street. From far off
to their left a heavy machine gun burped, followed by the rattle of M-16's. The Guardsmen were so used to the sound of gunfire in the distance that they paid scant attention to it unless it involved them.

Cage scanned
the front of the yard and was relieved to see very little landscaping. On a similar rescue operation the day before, a Z had jumped out of a cluster of ornamental shrubbery and bit his Sergeant on the ear. They had destroyed the zombie and then turned their rifles on the NCO, shooting him in the head. There were very few wounded in the Little Rock campaign. Broken bones were evacuated, but bites or infected scratches were dealt with on the spot. In Lieutenant Cage's platoon, it had been voted on unanimously that anyone infected with the HWNW virus be put down immediately by their fellow troops. None of the men wanted to come back as an abomination that fed on human flesh.

One of the men advanced on the front door of
the house and pounded on it with his fist as he announced who they were. Cage gave it a silent twenty count before saying, "Spray it."

The soldier produced a can of paint and marked the door in bright red
with symbols denoting that the house had been checked and was empty.

As Cage looked
at the marking, he was almost overcome with a sense of déjà vu. He felt like he had been dropped into a twilight zone that combined Afghanistan and post hurricane Katrina New Orleans. He knew the feeling well because he had been to both.

Cage
was starting to weird himself out, so he said quietly to himself, "Shake it off." Feeling back in control, he called out, "Next one," as he backed away from the house with his rifle leveled at the door. This was a necessary precaution because sometimes their knock was answered by something that wasn't alive anymore.

As they were crossing the yard to the neighboring house, the radio on Cage's belt buzzed. Halting his men
, who automatically fell into a defensive circle around him, he unclipped the device and said, "This is Six, go ahead, over."

An excited voice came over the small speaker
saying, "LT, its Jones in the MRAP. Base just called and said we're pulling out. We need to rendezvous at the airport and prepare to form up in column for a movement. They're redeploying us to Russellville to provide security there, over."

"Who's coming in to relieve us, over?'' Cage asked.

There was silence for a moment before Jones answered in a subdued voice, "No one, sir. The order came through that we're no longer evacuating Little Rock. We're abandoning it, over."

Forgetting radio procedure, Cage asked in disbelief, "What the fuck did you just say?"

There was a slightly longer pause followed by Jones saying, "Little Rock, Hot Springs, Fayetteville and Fort Smith are to be abandoned as no longer being habitable cities. All the remaining Guard forces in Little Rock are to regroup and move to a position to the west of Russellville. We're to provide security for some type of facility there and await further orders. We've gotten reports from Oklahoma that they've already pulled out of Tulsa and their other large cities this morning. They're either doing the same or getting ready to in a whole slew of other states too, sir, over."

Looking over to the street, Cage could see that
the men of second squad, having heard the message on their own radio, were already climbing onto their truck. He knew he had to keep control of the situation before an organized withdrawal turned into a panicked mob.

"Everyone freeze." Cage ordered sharply into his radio. "We're going to do this by the numbers. No one moves without orders from me." Letting up on the transmit button, Cage told the men around him to move back toward the MRAP and load up. Once this was done, he stood in the street and covered second squad as he gave them the same order. When they were safely in their truck, he took one last look around before climbing into the armored car and securing the door behind him.