Tales of the Forgotten (12 page)

Sean
handed the rope to Brad, who quickly dropped into the hole and watched Sean and
Hasan slide down behind him. Sean immediately made his way to the rear of the
Defender and took up a security position. Brooks was behind the wheel and
eagerly working to start the vehicle.

Brad
made his way to the back door and was trying to wedge the gear out of the cargo
space when he heard the Defender roar to life. “Everyone on board!” Sean yelled
as he squeezed out through the opening and into the street. Brad stopped what
he was doing and crawled through the rear window. Once he was in, he reached
back and pulled Hasan in behind him. Hasan was visibly rattled from the bomb
drops and just sat forward with his rifle between his legs. Sean slapped the
back of the truck and yelled that the street was clear. Brooks stomped on the
accelerator and the Defender scraped and crunched backwards out of the store
front.

Brooks
turned the vehicle hard to the right when he cleared the opening and Sean
jumped into the seat next to him. Brooks again gunned the vehicle and it roared
as it crunched over the broken glass and debris that filled the street. Brad
looked out of the cracked windshield between Sean and Brooks. The streets were
filled with rubble and the bloodied bodies of the primals. He was horrified to
see some of them in broken and twisted positions still trying to lift themselves
to take chase. The closer they got to the river, the worse damage they found.
The road was barely passable where the concrete surface had heaved and buckled.

“We’re
not going to get far in this,” Brooks said. “The engine temp is climbing and I
have a Christmas tree of warning lights on the dash.”

“Well,
ride her hard as far as it will go,” Sean answered.

“I
always do,” Brooks retorted.

He
dropped the Defender into four wheel drive and carefully eased the vehicle
through the broken and twisted concrete.

“Eyes
up back there fellas, I don’t know how long the shock will keep them down,”
Sean said.

Brad
looked out his window; this close to the river, there wasn’t much of anything
resembling a human. All he could see was crushed buildings and garbage. Smoke
was still thick in the air and fires were burning everywhere.
This city of
primals has been given back to the earth
, he thought. Brooks drove as fast
as he dared and soon they had cleared the blast area and the streets started to
open up. The flares and decoys must have done their job drawing the primals
into the danger zones, because there were still none of them in sight.

Brooks
eased the Defender onto the hard-packed highway. He cautiously dropped back
into two wheel drive and accelerated. They made it a good two miles into the
valley before they started to hear the engine squeal.

“I’m
sure she’s cooking. I think we punctured the oil pan, and the radiator is
trashed. We’re running damn hot,” Brooks said.

“Understood.
Try to find Hasan’s trailhead or at least a break in these mountains before you
stop,” Sean replied.

Brooks
continued to nurse the vehicle down the road; it was still screeching and had
started to leave a trail of blue smoke. He found a deep cut in the rocks that
led to a trail, and pulled the Defender over and ahead to the entrance. Brad
watched Brooks reach down and turn the key, shutting off the Defender for the
last time.

“Okay
boys, dismount and 360 security. Let’s get eyes on this location right quick,”
Sean barked.

 Brad
tossed his small pack out of the window and crawled out after it. He took up a
hasty security position just to the rear of the vehicle. He looked around and
saw that the rest of the men had equally spread out and were searching their
sectors.

“Looks
clear here, Chief,” Brad said, and heard simultaneous replies of the same from
the rest of the team.

“Okay,
break down this vehicle. We need to be moving into these rocks ASAP!” Sean
hollered back and he turned to move towards the vehicle.

“How
well do you know this area, Hasan?” Brad asked.

“I
have traveled this road often, and I have had the misfortune of seeking shelter
in these hills before to evade your patrols,” Hasan answered.

“Good!
Then you take point,” Sean said, smiling at Hasan.

It
took them several minutes to break down the Defender. Brad felt the weight of
his overstuffed pack when he heaved it to his shoulders. They had evenly
distributed all of the food, ammo, and water between their packs. Brad was
beginning to feel like a pack mule with the crushing weight of his load. He
walked to the rear of the Defender and leaned his pack against the rock wall to
try and take some of the weight off of his shoulders. He watched as Sean made a
quick pass around the vehicle to make sure everything usable had been removed.
Brooks took the keys from his pocket and laid them on the seat of the truck.
Then Sean pointed to Hasan and signaled for him to lead the way.

Hasan
went forward with his AK47 cradled in his arms. He moved up the large crack in
the rocks to a narrow trail that led steeply up and away from the road. Brooks
walked directly behind Hasan, and Sean took up the rear. Brad struggled to walk
the steep incline and almost fell several times.

“Do
not lose heart, friends, the path will become easier at the top,” Hasan called
back to them. They climbed for several minutes longer, carefully stepping over
loose boulders. At the top, as Hasan had said, the path dropped over the face
of the rock, then flattened and slowly snaked up the mountain on the other
side.

“I
want to get as much distance on this place as possible before nightfall,” Sean
said.

“What
about the colonel?” Brad asked.

“Don’t
worry about the colonel right now. Our job is survival, and that means getting
as far as possible from that valley,” Sean answered. “Let’s try and make that
ridge before we look for a campsite, Hasan,” he said, pointing to a high piece
of terrain far in the distance.

Hasan
nodded, stepped off on the trail, and set a quick pace. Moving fast, Brad felt
the burning in his shoulders where the weight of the pack’s straps cut into
him. His feet were swollen and he could feel every stone on the path through
his faded and battered boots.
It’s going to be a long day,
he thought to
himself as he concentrated on just putting one foot in front of the other.

The
trail wound in and out of the face of the mountain. The surface was well worn
and dusty, made up of mostly packed gravel and stone. As the elevation
increased, the air thinned but it was still just as hot. The trail was quiet
and they took several breaks where they would take a knee and listen. So far
nothing was following them and the colonel’s advice that the primals avoided
traveling uphill seemed to be true. Even though they were exhausted, they made
good time and pushed each other down the trail. After several hours, they had
finally arrived at the approach to the ridge.

Hasan
stopped on the trail and sat on his rear, leaning back against his pack. He
pulled a bottle of water from his pocket and took a long drink. “I wanted to
warn you, when we pass the top of this ridge you will see the way is packed
with hundreds more ridges just like this one. The trail appears to go on
forever, but do not be disappointed, friends, it is less than two days’ journey
back to the next pass and to the highway. We will see a village on the way,” he
added. The men nodded as they lay back on their packs and drank from their own
supplies of water.

After
several minutes, Brooks got to his feet and extended a hand to Hasan, pulling
him from the ground. They turned and made their way up the path to the top of
the ridge. At the top they found the path widened and twisted into a large rock
overhang. Under the overhang they could see remnants of an old campfire,
evidence that this place had been occupied before. In the distance, the path
wound at a slow downslope away from the ridge before it cut out of sight. As
Hasan had said, the ridges stacked up and seemed to go on forever.
The next
couple days are going to suck,
Brad thought. 

They
made camp in the overhang. The men dropped all of their gear and Hasan went off
to gather wood for a cooking fire. Sean made his way to the overhang and sat
down heavily.

“We
will stand watch tonight in two-hour shifts. Let’s stay in this hide until long
after daylight.” Sean pulled the phone from his pack and turned on the power
before resting it on a rock. “We’ll have to be careful with the batteries now
that we don’t have the Defender to charge them,” he said, then pulled two cans
of slop from his pack and tossed them near the fire pit. “Here guys, let me buy
you dinner,” he said before he leaned back against his pack.

Hasan
returned with the wood and built a small fire. Brooks stacked rocks around it
to conceal the flames from anyone or thing that might be nearby. Then he pulled
the cooking pot from his pack and started the evening meal. They sat without
talking and watched the fire, mainly due to exhaustion, not from a loss of
words. Brad had little appetite but knew he had to eat if he were to have the
energy for tomorrow’s hike. He took his portion of the slop and settled back
against his pack and ate in silence.

Just
as he was finishing he heard the phone buzz. Sean let out an exaggerated sigh
and pressed the speaker button.

“Go
for Chief,” he said.

“Good
evening, Chief, I trust your egress from the city went well. Could I get a
status report?” Cloud said.

“We
are four strong. We are packing heavy ammo and rations; probably enough water
for two, maybe three days,” Sean said.

“Well
gentlemen, the satellite shows that the river’s bank was nearly leveled by the
bombing runs. What primals there are seem to be dead, or dying, based on
thermals,” Cloud said.

“Would
have been nice if you could have cleared the city before we went through,” Sean
barked.

“Once
again Chief, we have limited air assets and even less fuel. We are running off
the strategic oil reserves right now and we have to be very careful with what
we’ve got. Your breaching of the city was a risk we had to take; fortunately
things worked out well,” Cloud answered.

“Screw
you sir! We almost died out there and now we are on foot and who knows where
the hell we are at,” Sean barked again.

“Let’s
calm down. I can see from the last satellite pass that you have drifted from
the road that we recommended you stick to. I’m going to need to you make course
corrections back in that direction,” Cloud said.

“Not
going to happen Colonel! We are going to stick to these mountains until we hit
the next pass. Our guide on the ground is leading this exhibition and he has
been more reliable than you at the moment,” Sean said, nodding to Hasan, who
nodded back in recognition.

“Chief,
you do understand that you and your men are still members of the armed forces
and obligated to follow orders?” Cloud asked.

“Understood,
Colonel, please send out the MPs to make my arrest; I’m ready to go to the
brig,” Sean responded sarcastically.

“Very
well, Chief, have it your way. If you stick to the mountain path you will find
some very rough terrain. The trail will break near the village of Shurazar,”
Cloud said.

Sean
looked to Hasan, who nodded, indicating the colonel was correct.

“What
intel can you give me on the village, Colonel?” Sean asked.

“The
village is very small, not many details in the record. We don’t know the state
of infection, but it is somewhat isolated off the main road so you may get
lucky. We will run satellite recon on the site during the next window,” Cloud said.

“And
what is your plan for us beyond this march?” Sean asked.

“We
will talk when you reach Shurazar, Chief,” said Cloud, disconnecting the call.

“Wow,
he sounded pissed,” laughed Brooks.

“Yes,
but we have the leverage right now. He needs us for something, that’s the only
reason we have him. Probably the same reason they waited so long to call,” Sean
said. “Let’s get some sleep, we have a long walk ahead of us tomorrow.” He rose
to his feet and grabbed his rifle to take the first watch.

It
was dark now and the temperatures had dropped this high in the mountains. Brad
leaned back against his pack and watched the fire; it was burning low but the
coals still put out considerable warmth. The men knew it wasn’t a good idea to
have a fire out in the open at night, and was completely unheard of in military
operations, but they were going by new rules now. Brad pulled his feet close to
him and undid his boot laces. He immediately felt relief as he pulled the worn
leather from his feet. A hot shower would be nice, but they barely had water to
drink, they couldn’t waste any for bathing. Sinking deeper into his pack, he
rested and watched the flames lick at the rocks they had placed to conceal the
light of the fire.

He
didn’t know how long he had stared at the flames; he couldn’t see past the glow
of the fire. He looked to his left and saw Hasan sleeping soundly. Brooks was
next to him, out cold with his rifle in his lap. Startled, he saw Sean standing
across from the fire, looking out at the mountains.