Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Escaping the Dead) (7 page)

1.

Forward Operating Base Bremmel

 Zero day plus one.

He
wasn’t a bad soldier, just misunderstood.  Sergeant Robert Logan was
always in trouble, not on the job, but for things he did on his own
time.     His last adventure had caused him to oversleep
and not show up on time for duty.  That cost him his team leader position
and sentenced him to a week of working in the chow hall.  Now the rest of
Echo Company was preparing for a patrol, and he was getting ready for a day
slinging hash.  Time in the mess hall sucks, but not as bad as watching
your men roll out without you. 

Robert
was helping Corporal Méndez prepare his crew for today’s mission; this would be
his first as team leader.  Robert was nervously quizzing him to make sure
he was ready for the responsibility.  Méndez asked him to relax,
everything would be fine.  He had a solid crew, Specialist Eric was a good
driver and Private Ryan was one of the best gunners in the company. 
Besides, it wasn’t Robert’s concern today, his job was serving up breakfast and
the last thing he needed was to be late for work again.  Robert shook his
former teammate’s hands and wished them luck on today’s patrol, then walked
away towards the chow hall.

It
felt strange for Robert to be going to work without the body armor and weapons
he was used to.  He still carried his M9 pistol in a holster, but other than
that he felt naked.  Robert walked to the mess hall and said good morning
to the Mess Sergeant that ran the dining facility.  She gave him a scowl,
obviously not happy that she was always being assigned the other units trouble makers
to work in her facility.  She needed the help though, and couldn’t afford
to turn anyone away. 

She
told Robert to get washed up and got him started on peeling and slicing hard
boiled eggs.  Robert was disgusted by the work assignment, but he settled
in and got busy.  Even though it sucked, he found the work surprisingly
easy.  He looked over the counter at the end of his work area and watched
the soldiers begin to pile in for the morning meal service.

After
a few minutes of peeling eggs Robert decided to put himself on break and he
wandered into the seating area.  He saw a good friend of his and a fellow
trouble maker, Staff Sergeant Bolder, just sitting down with his tray. 
Robert grabbed a cup of coffee and made his way over.  “Hey Bolder, how are
you doing buddy?” Robert asked him while he sat at the table across from his
longtime friend. 

“I’m
good, I see they still got you on Kitchen Patrol, how long you got to do this
for?” asked Bolder.

 “Well,
Sergeant Turner says I can be done at the end of the week if I stop being late
all the time, but he said K.P. will be my permanent job if I screw up again,
it’s all bullshit man. So anyway what’s new on camp?”

 
“Shit Bro, didn’t you hear?  There was a big fight in the aid station last
night… Yeah from the MedEvac that brought in those wounded civilians
yesterday,” Bolder said.

“What?
That was just a bunch of women and children and such.  They were just cut up
and scratched bad; I even helped unload them from the choppers.”

 “Yeah
that’s the group,” replied Bolder.  “Seems they got into some shit, must
have been on acid or something, cause a couple hours after the medics got them
all patched up and into bed, them folks woke up angry as hell.  They went
ape shit on the medics.  Damn, even the kids were biting and scratching at
everyone.  Had to pull security off the walls to handle them.” explained
Bolder.

“What
the hell bro, that’s crazy!  So where they at now?” asked Robert.

 
“Oh the Military Police got them all locked up, but man it took half the guards
on night shift to shut them down, wasn’t cool bro.  I have never seen
nothing like it.  Anyhow the Captain gave all the guards the rest of the
night off and told them to get some sleep.  He called my crew in early to
take over.  They needed it though man, some of those guys had some deep
scratches; a couple even got the shit bit out of them.”

“Man
this place is crazy.  They just need to send our ass’s home.  Got drugged up
civilians attacking us now; what’s next you know?” said Robert. 

“I
hear ya buddy, I hear ya,” answered Bolder shoveling in a fork full of eggs.

Robert
was about to get up and head back into the kitchen when he heard a loud
commotion coming from the main entrance.  He turned to see what was going
on just as two soldiers burst through the front door.  One was dressed
only in pants with no shirt; the other was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. 
The shirtless man had tackled a soldier in the doorway and several others were
trying to pull him off.   

The
Mess Sergeant ran from the kitchen looking angry as hell and ready to confront
them.   Yelling, she charged directly into the chaos; T-shirt pushed
off from the crowd and ran directly at her grabbing at her shoulders.  The
Mess Sergeant screamed for help just as the crazed soldier took a snarling bite
out of her exposed neck.  Robert could see the man pull back with its
mouth full of flesh, and blood spurting out of the wound.  The Mess
Sergeant staggered backwards and fell to the floor.

Robert
got over the initial shock of what he had just witnessed.  He un-holstered his
pistol, took aim and pulled the trigger.  He put two rounds into T-shirt,
knocking him back and away from the mess sergeant.  Several soldiers ran
to her and began first aid. 

Robert
stood dazed with the smoking gun in his hands.  To draw and fire had been
instinctive, his training taking over; but now to see an American soldier dead
by his hands stunned him.  Robert holstered the weapon as the chaos woke
him from his stupor.  He ran over to help the other soldiers restrain the
first shirtless man; but he was fighting hard and they were finding it
impossible to pin him down. 

With
the mess hall in chaos, nobody noticed T-shirt stumble and crawl back to his
feet.  He staggered forward with the two bleeding gunshots in his chest
and tackled a small female soldier providing aid to the Mess Sergeant. 
Robert heard her scream.  Turning, he couldn’t believe his eyes, when he saw
that T-shirt was back up attacking again. 
What the fuck?
Robert
thought.   He started to rush towards the female to help against
T-shirt just as four more crazed soldiers ran into the crowd that had gathered
outside the doors.

 
What the hell is going on?
Robert again thought to himself.  He
stood and took a step backwards fending off his feelings of panic.  Off to
the right he could see that the shirtless man was now winning the fight.
 He had taken a bite out of a soldier and a couple others had nearly quit
in exhaustion.  To the left, T-shirt had silenced the small female and was
now wrestling with a third soldier.  Back outside the doorway, it was a
cluster of bodies and blood battling for leverage.  Fear had taken over
and confusion was winning the fight.

Then
the gunfire started outside.  The first shots startled Robert, the
familiar sounds again sparking his training; he redrew his pistol putting two
more rounds into T-shirt knocking him down for a final time.  Stepping
closer, he plugged a final round into his skull.  Pivoting hard on his
feet towards the shirtless man, he raised his weapon and emptied the magazine
into its naked chest; ending the struggle.  Shortly after he fired his
last shot, the shirtless soldier stopped moving and slumped to the
ground.  The fight outside was growing and one of the wounded soldiers
jumped to secure the mess hall doors; locking out the madness just beyond
them.  A few more saw what he was doing and followed suit by piling tables and
chairs against the entry way. 

Robert
turned to look around the room…the two attackers were down and dead.  He
saw at least four other soldiers lying on the floor bleeding heavily. 
Five others were in the room; most of them also covered in cuts and
scratches.  The cooks came from the kitchen into the dining facility to
assist in giving first aid.  He saw Bolder again, he had a long scratch
down his arm from the fight with shirtless, and Robert asked him if he was
okay.

“Yeah
I’m good.  Man that wasn’t right.  That’s exactly what went down in the aid
station last night.  You think them civilians could have slipped these guys
some of the same drugs?”

“I
don’t know Bolder, but those guys were tough as hell.  I shot one twice
and he still got up and kept fighting.  What’s going on outside? It sounds like
a riot,” answered Robert.

Robert
and Bolder walked to a window and looked out.  The camp was a mess; they could
see soldiers fighting soldiers everywhere.  Some had weapons drawn and
were firing into masses of fighting men.  Everyone was in a panic and in
complete disorder.  “Bolder we got to get out of here.  Let’s get back to
the Company building and find out what’s going on,” Robert said. 

With
Robert leading the way, the two of them cut back through the kitchen and out a
back door.  The back of the mess hall was positioned against a long
concrete T-wall that protected it from mortar and rocket fire.  A service
entrance led from the back of the kitchen and followed the wall around onto a
dirty street.  Robert made his way through the service area and guided
Bolder onto the street.  It suddenly grew quiet and the gunfire ceased.  Only
the sounds of agony and soldiers shouting orders were left in the air.

Robert
rounded a corner and looked to the left.  He saw that most of the fighting
in front of the mess hall had stopped, but there were a lot of bodies on the
ground.  Confused and stunned soldiers were walked around staring at the
bodies of the fallen.  Robert and Bolder walked in the direction of the
company buildings; they could see soldiers sitting on the ground with cuts on
their arms and faces.  Others were weeping and trying to provide aid to
their friends.

Robert
walked with Boulder across the open space.  They stood looking stunned by
what they were seeing.  There were two dead soldiers in front of
them.  The soldiers looked like they had been chewed apart by
animals.  Another soldier to the left had a bandaged arm, his chest and
head covered with now fatal gunshot wounds.  “That’s Erickson,” Bolder
said pointing at the bandaged man.  “He was one of the guards that got
attacked last night.”

The
silence was suddenly shattered with sirens blaring and loud speakers announcing
“
incoming ground attack, all available personnel to assigned security sector
”. 

“You
got to be fucking kidding me!” Bolder yelled, “Let’s go Robert, time to get to
work!” He yelled back before he turned and headed for the wall. 

Robert
looked at the pistol in his hand; he loaded his last magazine, then picked up a
rifle off the ground next to a dead soldier and ran after Bolder towards the
wall.  They got to the front gate just in time to see a large jingle truck
racing towards the entrance.  The truck was going fast, driving
erratically, and blaring its horn.  The men on watch fired flares and
warning shots but the truck raced on.   When they were certain it
wasn’t going to stop they opened up on it with their heavy machine guns. 
The large caliber rounds ripped into the engine block, skipping through the
truck, blowing out the cab and killing the driver.  The truck came to a
rolling stop in a ditch just short of the first set of barriers. 

A
young officer with a gold subdued Lieutenants bar on his helmet pointed at
Bolder and Robert. “You two!  Get out there and secure that vehicle”.

“Hooah
sir,” Bolder sarcastically grumbled back.  He slapped Robert on the
shoulder “You ready for this bro?”

“Lead
the way,” Robert answered.   

They
weaved through the barriers and slowly approached the truck.  The
destroyed engine made a clicking sound as it died and cooled off in the
heat.  The front was bleeding coolant onto the ground; steam and smoke
billowed from holes in the hood.  Robert rounded the front of the truck,
sliced the corner with his rifle and aimed into the cab.  He found a mess
inside with little left to investigate.

They
began to lower their weapons when they heard a whimper coming from the covered
bed of the vehicle.  Bolder gave Robert a quick hand signal and they
pressed back to the rear of the jingle truck.  Robert took a step back and
raised his rifle; providing cover while Bolder lifted the canvas to peer
inside.  “Oh shit,” Bolder gasped. 

Robert
stepped forward to look inside and saw the bed of the truck was littered with
wounded civilians, most of them children.

“Lieutenant! 
We need a medic up here!”  Robert yelled back over his shoulder.  The
Lieutenant and another young soldier ran forward to the truck and looked inside.

“Sir? 
You want me to call for a medic?” The young soldier asked.

“No,
they are busy with the wounded inside; they won’t have time for this shit!” The
Lieutenant snapped back in frustration. 

They
heard a soft voice from the front of the covered truck bed, quietly calling for
help.  Robert climbed over the tailgate of the truck and into the bed
moving forward until he found the man who spoke.  “I’m here,” Robert said.