These Dead Lands: Immolation (60 page)

Surprisingly, Hastings slept
through the night. He didn’t dream or even shift his position much in the confines of the narrow bunk. When he finally stretched out on the thin mattress, he closed his eyes in almost silent darkness. When he opened them, there was muted light and the soft noises of activity from the latrine. It was time to get to it. He had a big day ahead.

After getting dressed, he joined the soldiers and civilians gathered at the front of the barracks. Kay Ballantine hung back with her boys and Kenny. All three kids were still sleeping, but the activity was picking up. It wouldn’t be long until they woke up.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” Hastings said. “There’s another element of reekers heading up here, probably from Philly. Several thousand strong. So we’re going to have to deal with another attack on a different flank.”

Ballantine sighed and rubbed his eyes. “That’s going to suck, sir.”

Hastings nodded. “It will. There’s more, though. Fort Bragg is still operational. Other than making Master Sergeant Slater feel all warm and tingly, they’re consolidating forces down there and will be establishing continuity of government operations. Because of that, Colonel Victor is required to deliver Senator Cornell to them. Since he’s a senior member of the government who’s actually in line of succession for the office of the president, the officers in charge want him and all active duty troops down south. I don’t know what the plan is, but it’s going to be driven from there.

“And Colorado Springs is also still on the map. Seems the entire Fourth ID has helped turn the city into a fortress. That’s where the civilians will need to be relocated. Including dependents, Ballantine,” Hastings added, looking at the tall sergeant first class.

Ballantine shook his head. “Oh no, sir. I’m not letting them out of my sight.”

“I know. That’s why you’re going with them if we have to bug out. The train’s being prepped for movement out west. We can’t get any long-range aviation assets chopped to us, so the train is the only way we can get folks from here to there. It’s a gamble, since we don’t know what the rail line conditions are, but it’s the best chance we have. If the Gap falls, everyone’s got to get on the train.” He turned to Everson. “Sorry, Mister Everson, but all the uniforms are going to be on the line. I’ll need you to oversee the civilians and make sure they’re ready to go if things blow up in our faces.”

Everson ran a hand through his long hair. “Okay, Captain. Who do I contact up at the rail yard? I’m guessing I just can’t show up and get on the train without permission. I’ll need a POC,” he said, using the acronym for Point of Contact.

“There’s an MP captain named Chan who has oversight of the train right now,” Hastings said. “He’ll be the guy to look for.”

Everson nodded. “Know him. I’ll reach out to him this morning. Does this mean we’re suspending weapons training?”

Hastings thought about it then shook his head. “I guess not. Contact isn’t going to happen until around the end of the day. If you can squeeze it in, then I’d try to continue that if you can.”

“Sir, sorry to interrupt,” Ballantine said. “You said all active duty had to head south, but you also said I was going with the train?”

Hastings nodded. “I know you’re not going to let yourself be separated from your family, Carl. And Reader and Tharinger both know the city. You boys are from there, right?”

“Yes, sir!” Tharinger said. He seemed excited at the prospect of going home. Reader looked oddly subdued, as if the revelation that his hometown hadn’t fallen to the reeker hordes was somehow disquieting.

Hastings nodded. “Good, so you have local knowledge that’ll be helpful. Colonel Jarmusch will be leading the western expedition, and all the Tenth Mountain troops are going with him. You guys have more direct experience dealing with the reekers than the Guard, so all of you will be on hand to help. I’ll be going south with Sergeant Slater.”

Ballantine exchanged glances with Guerra. “I don’t get it, sir. Why head for Bragg?”

“Because that’s the deal I cut with Victor, Carl. In order for you to stay with your family, and for the rest of you guys to keep watch over Kenny, I have to go to Bragg.” Hastings looked at Diana. “You, of course, don’t need anyone looking after you.”

Diana returned his gaze but said nothing.

“Sir? Maybe I should go with you,” Guerra said.

“I’m good, Hector.”

Guerra grinned. “Okay, then how about Stilley? You can take
him
with you.”

Stilley looked shocked. “Wait. What?”

Hastings smiled thinly. “He’s with you, Hector.”

“But, sir, think of the children!” Guerra chortled.

Stilley frowned. “Hey, man, that ain’t funny. I’m not going to do anything to the kids!”

“Square your shit away, all of you,” Slater said. “Don’t get all weepy-eyed about the captain heading south. If we survive the trip, you’ll be seeing him again. Believe me.”

Ballantine turned to Slater, his expression stony. “You’re going to see to that personally, Sergeant?”

Slater scowled. “Hey, Ballantine, you have some butt hurt over it, feel free to come along. That can be arranged, no problem.”

Ballantine’s return glare was frosty enough to reinstate the polar ice caps. “The captain’s always done right by me, Slater. Just trying to do the same by him.”

“It is what it is, guys,” Hastings said. “Don’t sweat it. And Slater’s probably right. We’ll be seeing each other again. The military’s footprint is a lot smaller than what it used to be. Anyway, back to what we were talking about. The plan is this: if we get overrun, we’re to fall back inside the Gap and consolidate our fires on the enemy formations. The civilians and dependents should get to the train and await further instructions. That’s where you come in, Mister Everson. I’ll try to have one of the guys pitch in and give a hand, but if things get hairy, don’t stand around waiting for someone to show up. Use your best judgment.”

Everson nodded. “You can count on that, Captain. What about transportation?” He pointed outside, where the van from the motor pool sat. “Think we can keep that van?”

“That’ll have to do,” Hastings said. “It has wheels and an engine, so it should do the trick.” He looked around the men and women assembled around him. “Okay. That’s it. It’s going to be a big day, and I don’t anticipate things are going to happen fast, but everyone needs to prepare themselves physically and emotionally for what might go down. Any questions?”

There were none.

Hastings nodded. “All right. Sergeant Ballantine, Sergeant Slater, you’re with me. We’re headed to the TOC for the latest intel update. Guerra, you and the rest of the troops take a look around with Mister Everson and see if there’s anything you can do to help these folks tighten up their gear and get ready to move out. Everson’s responsible for weapons training, but give a hand if you think you can. We’ll let you know what your duty stations are for today as soon as we know.”

The group broke up. Hastings, Ballantine, and Slater grabbed their gear. Diana followed Hastings to his bunk and stood there, arms crossed.

He looked over at her as he slung into his ruck. “What’s up?”

“Are you going to Fort Bragg because of me?” she asked.

Hastings furrowed his brow. “I don’t get the question.”

“Okay. Take two. Are you leaving because of what happened last night?”

He snorted. “Hah. No. Not because of that.”

“Then why?”

“Because I was ordered to.” Hastings tightened his ruck straps, securing it to his back. “And because if there’s a way for the country to bounce back from what’s happening, I want to be there. I’m only a grunt lightfighter, but I might be able to help put things back together again.”

“Oh.” Diana looked down at Kenny as he stirred slightly beneath the blanket.

*

Hastings and Ballantine
joined Captain Vogler’s company at the barricades they had been working on the previous day. Overnight, two other companies of active duty and National Guard soldiers had pretty much finished the first barrier and made substantial progress on the second. Once Vogler’s unit relieved the overnight companies, Vogler ordered a platoon forward to act as security while the remainder of the unit set about finishing the second line of barriers. They were joined by another unit from the remains of Vogler’s battalion. It took a bit for the two companies to get coordinated, and Hastings felt he was a bit of fifth wheel, since he had a company grade commander’s rank but no company under his command, but he helped where he could.

Overhead, one of the Shadow UAVs blatted past, climbing out into the morning sky to start its reconnaissance patrol. Hastings oversaw the placement of the claymore mines on the second line of CONEX barriers. The forward sides of the containers were faced with dirt-filled HESCO barriers that completely covered the front of the lowermost container, and the claymores were attached to these. That gave the directional mines some elevation, and their convex faces were angled either downward or upward, depending on their location on the HESCOs. The mines were wired to be detonated in separate elements, so that several waves of reekers could be attacked at will. The devices were separated from each other by several feet to prevent one array’s detonation from inadvertently setting off another in a process known as “sympathetic detonation.” Even though they were directional weapons, claymores could make a hell of bang, and anything in close proximity would feel it.

The two rows of containers were approximately one hundred feet apart. Filling the gap between the walls were rows and rows of razor wire and stacks of sandbags that would serve to channelize the reekers into fatal funnels. Hastings and the other officers had considered leaving the area empty, so it would be a complete free-fire zone, but in the end, conventional doctrine won out. Even though the reekers weren’t capable of organized attack, they still chose the paths of least resistance. And forcing their attacks into smaller areas just made for easier killing, especially since specific tactics—namely head shots—were the only effective means of taking the ghouls down. The claymores were arranged in such a way as to deliver their payloads of ball bearings into the heads of the approaching waves of ghouls, but they were a last ditch effort designed to give the troops manning the barricades some temporary breathing room.

While Hastings had no doubt the mines would eliminate hundreds, if not thousands, of reekers, there was no reliable way to replace the weapons with fresh units after they were detonated. Additional mines were placed up high, right below the lip of the uppermost containers, in case the zombies managed to make it past all the defensive elements. But those were the final
oh-shit
measure, and if they had to be used, then the barricades would probably have been overrun.

And then, the shit would get real, just as it had in New York. Hastings tried to push those thoughts out of his mind but failed. Even throwing himself into the actual work of setting mines, running wire, and filling sandbags and HESCOs wasn’t enough to keep the dread away. He didn’t fear for himself. While falling victim to the reekers was probably the most horrible way to go, Hastings was too burned out from loss to really care all that much. But he found he did fear for Kenny and Diana, and Ballantine’s boys, and the other civilians counting on them back at the Gap. Hastings knew that if the soldiers couldn’t hold back the dead at the barricades, then zombies would swarm all around the Gap’s perimeter. They could possibly amass in sufficient concentrations to make escape almost impossible, even with the several locomotives at their disposal.

Also, squirters were a foregone conclusion. Fort Indiantown Gap was too big to secure, and eventually, the perimeter would be breached. Hastings felt it in his bones. No force in history had stood up to an enemy that numbered in the millions, felt no fear or pain, and had no goal other than the single-minded determination to appease an insatiable appetite. He couldn’t help but wonder if they should just abandon the post and set off in their separate directions—the National Guard and the civilians to the west, regular Army and the Cornells to the south.
Why even stay to fight?

Because the Gap is secure. Because if we lose another reservation to those dead fucks, we’ll have an even tougher fight because we’ll lose another jump-out point.
Rationally, that made sense. But in the back of his mind, Hastings thought they could abandon the National Guard training center, let the reekers pass through, then return to reclaim it later. But what if the zombie hordes didn’t leave? What if their migration to the west wasn’t a foregone conclusion? If they didn’t stop the reekers here, could they at least attrit them to the point to where their numbers were no longer so overwhelming? Wouldn’t that be a worthwhile effort? Hastings didn’t know.

From the first container wall, shots rang out.

*